Sphere Of Dreams
by dreamer under a tree
Summary: If I had only the key…the dream could come true" a voice said. What does this mean? What does a strange pyrefly has to do with it? Actually Yuna wanted to live a peaceful life–and now she finds herself being on another journey its destination she does not know. It started when Tidus found a strange sphere. Soon after mysterious events started to happen, haunting them. Please review
1. Chapter 1

**Hello****. This is my first fan-fiction, I hope you like it. It's a story about love, death - and a dream.  
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**Here's a blurb:**

„_If I had only the key…I could make this dream come true_" a female voice said. But what does this mean? And what does a strange pyrefly has to do with it?

Actually Yuna wanted to live a peaceful life without any trouble – and now she finds herself being on another journey. A journey its destination she does not know, being on the track of a mystery. It started when Tidus found a part of a strange, big sphere that was washed ashore. Soon after mysterious events started to happen, haunting them wherever they go.

Go along with Yuna, Tidus and the Gullwings on a journey, at its end they will not be the same they have been before - a journey that might seal Spiras fate for good.

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**Some notes that might be helpful before reading. (If you don't want to read them, please scroll down towards the first horizontal line)**

1. Note for all readers:

I've seen that many people only read the first two or three chapters. I guess that's why these chapters might be a bit boring. So I ask you to read the next chapters. At the latest by chapter 5 it gets fascinating, I promise ;)

2. Note (only of importance for those who have played the HD-Remaster/international and last mission. There might be some spoilers):

This story is set after the good/perfect ending of FF X-2. I know that it's based on a no longer current storyline. But when I started writing this story (in 2010/11), I didn't know of International and last mission. So I set it right after FF X-2.

Well, as time goes on, some things change. When I started writing this story, I had the idea of bringing back something to Spira it has lost: namely some magic and Fantasy (and maybe also some seriousness). And that's what I'm still trying to do. So after all I hold on to this story, as I think its core is still worth it. I also have an idea of how this story could be integrated into the latest storyline. But therefore I would have to rewrite a large part of the story since most of all the babble so far is referring to the time during and right after X-2. And since my time is still short and I want to finish this story at last, I can't do this right at the moment.

Nonetheless I hope you take the time to read the story and accept it as a worthy Sequel to the Final Fantasy X series.

_End of the note _

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><p><strong>The fan-fiction starts with Yuna's last thought "It all began when I saw this sphere of you" at the end of the good ending. So you should at least recall the good ending. <strong>

**I'm pleased about every comment.**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. If there is any similarity to other fan-fictions it is not intentional. **

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><p><em>It all began when I saw this sphere of you<em>

When they arrived at the beach, everyone greeted them. "Hey, how you've been?" Wakka asked. However, before Tidus could answer he heard a loud "welcome" shout from behind him. As he turned around to see from where it came, he saw Rikku running towards him and Yuna, nearly hitting them because she couldn't slow down.

"Hey, this can be no one else but Rikku. Do you want to kill us or why are you running so fast? " he asked happily.

"Because I'm so happy, "she answered. "We all missed you a lot. We feared we'd never see you again, you know. Oh, by the way, this is Paine. "she said as she pointed to a woman with short, silver hair and black clothes walking towards them.

"Hello. Therefore, you are the mysterious man from Zanarkand. Nice to meet you, I'm Paine. Yuna and Rikku told me a lot about you."

"Nice to meet you Paine" was all he could say before the crying of a baby caught his eye. As he looked around to see from where it came, he saw that Lulu was cradling the crying baby in her arms.

"Welcome back" she said. "Hello Lu- "

"May I introduce you our son Vidina?" Wakka interrupted. The astonished Tidus looked from Wakka to Lulu and to the baby and then back to Wakka. "Your Son?" he asked incredulous. "Yours and Lulu's? How..? - I knew it! I told you, you two would make the perfect couple."

"Yeah, but they didn't want to hear it. Isn't it so, daddy?" Rikku said, teasing Wakka.

"Hey hey, don't get cheeky!" he responded.

Meanwhile Tidus let go of Yuna's hand and reached out to Vidina who took hold of Tidus' thumb as he said "hello little boy." to him.

Yuna could do nothing but smile. She was happy. She was very happy. She was too happy to express it in any way. All she could do was smiling and watching him as the Aurochs and the other villagers greeted and hugged him. Rikku and Wakka were still teasing each other and Lulu was standing beside them, smiling. Everyone was happy to see him again. Even the ones who didn't know him at all were happy. However, they were happy because he made her smile, Yuna guessed.

"You're very happy to see him again, eh?" Paine interrupted Yuna's thoughts. She nodded, her hands clasped behind her back. "Let me guess: You want some time to be alone with him?" she nodded again. There was so much she wanted to tell him. About the time he was gone, Vegnagun and the adventures she had together with Rikku and Paine, and…her feelings for him. She felt the urge to say it again. To say again that she loved him, that she had loved him all the time, even though he had been gone for two long years.

"I guess here on Besaid you don't get the chance to be alone with him, at least for the next two days"

"I think you're right, Paine." she responded. "But what should I do?"

"Why don't you take him and go somewhere where it's quiet?"

"That's a plan. But where shall we go? Moreover, how shall I get him? I guess I have to kidnap him because they won't let us go that easily. That's not really possible." she said, amused about the thought of kidnapping him. "Who says that?" Paine asked, a grin on her face. Yuna looked up at Paine, a grin appeared on her face too.

"Yeah, let's kidnap him!"

Yuna and Paine turned around to see Rikku, who had stopped teasing Wakka and must have heard their conversation.

"Let's make a plan" Rikku continued. Paine looked around to make sure no one listened. Then she said: "Ok. Rikku, you distract the Villagers while Yuna goes and takes him to the airship. I think this won't be very difficult."

"Yep yep! And what about you?" Rikku asked. "I'm going to the airship and make sure that Buddy and Brother follow my instructions. Is that a plan?"

"It's a good plan." Yuna answered.

"Ok" Rikku said "Are you ready?"

"We're ready!" Yuna and Paine said both at the same time.

"Y-"

"R-"

"P-"

"Let's go!"

Paine set off and went to the airship while Yuna and Rikku joined the group around the Aurochs and Tidus. "Hey Wakka" Rikku said, "How are the Aurochs doing as baby-sitters?"

"They're doing well, but Lulu fears that Vidina is a blitzballer before he is able to speak."

"I think this is legitimated. Yesterday they gave him a blitzball and he didn't let it go. I wonder when he is doing his first shot" she said.

"In a few years he will be a starplayer" Letty said. Rikku, Wakka, Lulu and the Aurochs were talking about Vidina and blitzball. Meanwhile Yuna took Tidus by the hand. "C'mon", she said, "I'd like to show you something."

"Ok. What do you want to show me?" Tidus asked. "You'll see soon enough." Yuna responded with a grin and started running towards the airship. "But why do we have to run?" he asked, lagging behind Yuna.

Wakka, noticing Yuna and Tidus running towards the Celsius, asked:"Where are they going?"

"Eh, I guess I have to go!" Rikku said and started running towards the airship too. "Hey, what's going on?" Wakka called after her. "If you really want to know it:" Rikku called while running "We're kidnapping him! Tomorrow we'll be back, so just wait with the welcome-back-party. "


	2. Chapter 2

**This is chapter 2. The first paragraph written in italics is the perfect ending from Final Fantasy X-2.**

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><p>Arriving in the engine room Yuna said to Tidus: "Welcome to the Celsius".<p>

"The Celsius? " he asked "I can't remember the Celsius like that."

"This is another Celsius. You could say it is Celsius II. Brother and Buddy found it after Sins defeat."

"Eh, who is Buddy?" he asked.

"Oh, I forgot. He's an Al Bhed like Rikku, Brother and Shinra. I'll show you around the airship and introduce Buddy to you. As you can see, this room here is both, the engine room and the entry room. Let's go upstairs to the elevator and then to the cabin first. Then we go to the bridge." Yuna went upstairs to the elevator. As he followed her, he wondered who Shinra was. He couldn't remember an Al Bhed named Shinra. Just as the elevator-doors were closing, he saw Rikku running up the ramp and pushing a button to close it. Not a second went by and the elevator began shaking. "Whoa! " he said, "I suppose this elevator needs to be serviced again."

Yuna giggled. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked. "This wasn't the elevator, it was the airship. It just took off."

"What? What's going on? Where are we going?"

"To Zanarkand, I suppose. I-" Yuna hesitated for a second, but then she decided to say what was on her mind "We kind of kidnapped you" she blushed and looked down to the floor. "I wanted some time to be alone with you. But on Besaid, I wouldn't get the chance to. I know it's not fair to the others because they're happy too and want to speak with you too but - "

"Yuna" he said in a deep voice, looking into her eyes "It's ok. ". She didn't know exactly why, but as he said this, she felt relieved. The elevator-doors opened and as they went out into the corridor leading to the cabin, he said to her: "You've really changed. But in some way you're still the little Yuna who tries to please all of the people."

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><p>Rikku went into the elevator and pressed the button that took her to the bridge. As she arrived there she looked around as if she was looking for someone. Buddy, Brother and Shinra were sitting on their seats. Paine stood behind Shinra, her arms folded. Then Rikku asked: "Where are they?"<p>

"I don't know." Paine responded. "They haven't been here yet. Maybe Yuna is showing him around the airship". Buddy stood up from his seat and went to Rikku and Paine. "So, this is the guy Yuna was looking for? The one who just faded away?"

"Yep" Rikku answered.

"But if this is true, how did he return?"

"Don't ask me." Rikku said, looking to Shinra, who responded: "I'm just a kid."

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><p>"This is the cabin." Yuna said as she walked through the door. She showed him the whole room and introduced him to Barkeep. Then they went to the Bridge, where she introduced him to Buddy and Shinra. "And this is Brother." she said. Do you remember him? He flew Cid's airship." Tidus nodded. How could he forget? The airship, the Guado, the destruction of the Al Bhed's home, the search for Yuna and Seymour, who forced her to marry him. But he had no time to think about this. Yuna began telling him what had happened after his disappearance. Then she gave him the spheres that showed Shuyin. When she told him about the hole in the Djose Temple and the whistles in the Farplane he looked at his hands as if to make sure they didn't fade away again and said: "I… I can remember."<p>

"What do you remember?" Yuna asked, not knowing what to feel.

"I don't really know. When I jumped off the airship I saw Auron, my dad and Braska. Then everything was white. Sometimes blue. And I felt as if I was swimming. Sometimes I saw the Farplane. And I was thinking of you. Sometimes it felt as if you were talking to me. And suddenly I felt your presence. I saw you in the Farplane, sitting on the ground, all alone. I wanted to call you, to whistle, to get you out of the Farplane. I don't really know how much time has passed. Later I saw you again in the Farplane. I tried to whistle again. Then I saw the faith and everything turned black. Everything felt so real but at the same time it felt all unreal. It was as if I was dreaming. Suddenly I felt fully alive and I woke up in Besaid." he said and looked up to Yuna. "I could hear your whistle" she said calmly "You lead me out of the Farplane back to Spira."

"But how is that possible?" Rikku asked. "I don't know" Tidus said, looking back at his hands "maybe…" then he was silent again. He didn't know what to say. How did he come back? Had he been dead or alive while he was in the Farplane? He had no answer. All was silent until Paine said: "Do you wanna hear the rest of the story?" He nodded. When they had finished telling him the story Buddy said: "We're in Zanarkand, the ramp is open."

"We're going to the Calm Lands." Rikku said. "Just use your little microphone when you want to be picked up again."

"Thank you" Yuna said. When she and Tidus went outside the sun had already begun to set.

_Tidus went up the little hill he was standing on two years ago and looked around. Then he said: "I got a theory. I think the fayth gathered up my thoughts and put them together to bring me back. Maybe. Something like that." he was silent again, thinking. Then he continued:" Or maybe…I'm still a dream."_

"_Wait! So you'll disappear?" she asked sadly. All was silent. Then he turned around to her and said: "Cherish me, Yuna. And I'll cherish you. All right? We gotta stay together. That's what we have to do." he turned around again. Yuna went towards him and hugged him from behind. "Is that what the fayth told you?"_

"_Nah. But I like it." They both began laughing. Then Yuna let go of him and gave him a shove so that he lost his balance and fell down into the ocean. "Whoa! Hey, that's not cherishing."_

"_You didn't disappear." she said. He looked at his hands and began smiling. Yuna began smiling too._

Then he put up his hands and said: "C'mon, help me getting out of the water." Yuna bended down and gave him her hands. But his plan wasn't getting out of the water instead he pulled her into it. As she hit the water it made a splash. "Hey, that's not getting out of the water." she said as she wiped it off her face. But all Tidus could do was laughing. 'Just you wait!' Yuna thought and splashed him with water before she started running away. "Catch me if you can!"

"Hey!" he said and started running after her. She ran out of the water and to the campfire site before he caught up with her and wrapped his arms around a giggling Yuna. Then he whispered in her ear: "I caught something, may I keep it?"

"Well," she said, "if you love something set it free. If it comes back to you it's yours forever." After that he let go of her. Yuna took two steps forward and turned around just to run into his arms. "I've missed you so much" she said before he kissed her. Then he said: "It's getting dark. Maybe we should call Rikku to pick us up."

"Yeah, you're right." she said before she turned on her little microphone and spoke into it "Rikku, can you hear me?"

"Clear as ever. I guess you to be picked up?" Rikku asked. "Yes."

"Well, I guess that's a problem. There's something wrong with the airship. It doesn't fly anymore. Shinra says he knows where the problem is but it will take a while until it's repaired. He says we'll be able to pick you up by tomorrow morning. Is that ok?"

"Don't worry, we'll be fine."

After they had lit a little campfire they sat there and talked. The stars lit up the dark night sky and Pyreflies flew all over Zanarkand. "I can't remember this spot being beautiful like this" Tidus said and lay down on his back, his hands behind his head, looking at the stars. "Me too" Yuna said and lay down on her back as well. Then he raised his right arm and pointed to the stars up in the sky and said: "Do you see the bright star there? The little ones next to it are looking like a Condor."

"You're right. And next to the Condor is a Bite Bug"

"Ugh. I hated them. Below the Bite Bug is a Bomb."

"A Bomb? If this is a Bomb it's a very skinny one."

Tidus laughed. "Yeah, and the Bite Bug is a real fat one. It can hardly fly." This made Yuna laugh too. After a short period of laughing both were silent. Then Yuna said:"Do you…" but was interrupted by a snorting Tidus. She turned around to watch him sleeping and smiled. Although she was very tired she didn't want to fall asleep. She was too afraid of waking up without him being there. She feared that he'd disappear again or that she was only dreaming and that he had never come back. But no matter how hard she tried to stay awake, she fell asleep.

_When she awoke the next morning the sun had already risen. The sunbeams shone through the clouds that must have come up during the night. "What a beautiful morning" she said but didn't get an answer. When she turned around to look at Tidus he wasn't there. She sat up and looked around but she couldn't see him. So she stood up and run around, but he was nowhere to be found. Suddenly the fayth appeared in front of her and said: "We're sorry, but we're too weak. We can't dream anymore, we've run out of power."_

"_No!" she whispered. "Not again. Nooo!"_

Yuna woke up with a start. The sun had already risen and the sunbeams shone through the clouds. She sat up and turned around to make sure he was still there, but he wasn't. Tears welled up in her eyes as she put her fingers to her mouth and whistled.

"Yuna" she heard from behind a ruin. As she looked from where it came she saw Tidus coming out from behind this ruin, dropping something that looked like half of a ball. He ran towards her and asked: "What's wrong?" Yuna fell into his arms and buried her face in his chest. "I…" she sobbed "I had a nightmare." Tidus ran his fingers through her hair to soothe her. "I woke up and you were gone. And then the fayth of Bahamut appeared. He said that…"

"Yuna, it's all right, I'm here." he said calmly. "I know." she said, wiping off her tears. "It's just that when I woke up with a start you weren't there. I feared that you had disappeared again."

"I'm sorry" he said.

"You don't need to apologize. I shouldn't have -" "It's ok. I should have waited until you're awake." A look of confusion appeared on her face, so he started to explain. "As I awoke I heard something hitting the rock. So I went to see what it was and fished it out of the water."

"What was it?"

"I don't know. But maybe you do." he picked up the black thing that looked like half of a sphere. It was as big as a blitzball and had seven hollows in its middle. As he moved it, it gleamed with a hint of blue. Yuna took a good look at it and said:"I've never seen something like this before. It looks like an oversized, broken sphere. But that doesn't explain the hollows. Maybe Shinra knows what it is."

"Let's ask him." Tidus said as he saw the Celsius approaching Zanarkand.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is chapter 3. **

**Sorry that it took so long. Please review.**

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><p>Back at the Celsius Yuna gave the black thing to Shinra who immediately started to examine it. As the airship took off Brother shouted:"To Besaid!"<p>

"Yeah. There's a celebration waiting for us." Rikku added.

"Can we stop over at Mt. Gagazet?" Yuna asked. "I'd like to tell Kimahri that Tidus is back."

"I don't know if that's a good idea" Buddy said, "we could only repair the airship in a makeshift way because there is a spare part missing. As long as it is not repaired completely every takeoff could be its last. Our plan is to take you to Besaid and then go to Djose. I think the Al Bhed there can help us." As Shinra looked at Yuna and noticed her disappointment he said: "The CommSphere at Mt. Gagazet is working again. Do you want to use it?"

"Of course I do." Yuna answered, smiling again. Yuna and Tidus spoke with Kimahri during the whole flight back to Besaid and promised to visit him soon.

As they went out of the airship the sun shone brightly and no cloud could be seen for miles around, as usual. "Does it rain here at all?" Tidus asked as they went down the hill to the village. "Yeah, it does." Yuna said. "There are a few weeks a year where the rain doesn't seem to come to an end. But most of the time the sun shines."

"Hey!" Wakka called, waving his arm. He was standing in front of a hut near the village entrance. "You two gonna stay this time?"

Tidus glanced at Yuna and said: "I think so. If I don't get kidnapped again." he added, teasing Yuna. Wakka and Tidus began laughing. "Hey, that's not funny." she said, trying hard not to laugh. "Ok, provided that ya don't get kidnapped again" Wakka said, "there's a hut down the little hill next to the Crusaders Hut. You can stay there for the next few days if you want."

"You mean the spot where the remains of a hut were standing?" Tidus asked.

"Since when is there a hut?" Yuna asked. Wakka laughed and said: "Since yesterday. Some villagers had the idea of rebuilding it. But now it seems that they don't know what they can use it for."

"But why did they rebuild it?" Tidus asked. "I don't know" Wakka said, "maybe they were bothered about the remains." Tidus was visibly confused, he didn't understand the villagers. "Don't brood too long." Wakka interrupted his thoughts. "You can help gathering wood for the bonfire".

While the Gullwings gathered firewood Wakka and some other villagers piled up the woodpile. The sun had already begun to set when they had finished. The whole village had gathered around the woodpile when it was lit. To the right of Tidus were Lulu, Wakka and the Aurochs. To his left were Yuna, Rikku, Paine and the rest of the Gullwings. They sat there and ate and talked late into the night. The Aurochs and the others asked Tidus about the time he was gone or talked about Blitzball, Beclem and other things. One after another left and went to bed until there were just Rikku, Paine, Yuna, Tidus and Wakka left. The fire had almost burned down and Yuna, who had laid her head on Tidus' shoulder, fell asleep.

"I guess there's someone tired" Wakka said.

"She's not the only one" Paine said as she yawned and stretched her arms. "I'm going to bed. What about you Rikku?"

"Me too." Rikku said, half asleep. "But do we really have to walk to the airship?"

"You can stay here" Wakka said.

"Yeah, the hut is big enough." Tidus added.

"Thank you" Paine said "but I think a little walk won't do any harm. Tomorrow we're going to Djose.-" "You're coming to say goodbye, aren't you?" Rikku interrupted.

"Of course we do." Tidus replied.

"Right. We'll see you tomorrow. And don't be too late." As Rikku and Paine left the village Wakka said: "It's late. I'm going to bed too."

"So do I" Tidus said and looked to the fast asleep Yuna.

"Haha, I guess she won't move. Before I forget, tomorrow morning the Aurochs are doing some blitzball practice. Are you joining the training?"

"Of course!"

"Hey, that's fantastic. The Aurochs will be glad about that. Now that Beclem is gone there's one player missing." Wakka paused for a second and then said "Hey, why don't you join the team again? How about it?"

"Yeah! But…" Tidus hesitated and looked to Yuna again. As Wakka understood what he meant he said: "C'mon, I'm sure she won't mind."

"I guess you're right. Count me in!"

"Right. Welcome back star-player of the Besaid Aurochs! I'll see you tomorrow at the beach."

Then Wakka went into his hut. Tidus picked up Yuna and carried her into the hut down the little hill. There he put her down on a sleeping mat before he lay down close to her. As he put his arm around her she woke up for a second and cuddled up closer to him. Then she took his hand and whispered "just to make sure you don't disappear" before she fell asleep again. He smiled and closed his eyes as well.

The next morning Yuna had turned around, now facing him. As he opened his eyes she said: "Good morning, star-player of the Zanarkand Abes and Besaid Aurochs."

"Morning. Wait, I think you were sleeping, weren't you?" he asked surprised. Yuna giggled as she sat up and said: "I was, more or less. But I heard you talking."

"So you don't mind if I join the team again?" he asked as he sat up as well. Yuna shook her head. "Why should I? You weren't the same if you would not play blitzball." Tidus was relieved. "So I guess you already know that the Aurochs are doing some training today?" she nodded. Then she said: "The Gullwings are leaving soon. Let's go and say goodbye." They stood up and went to the airship to say goodbye.

At the Celsius Yuna hugged everyone and thanked them for helping her to find him. Then Buddy asked: "What are your plans for the next time?" Yuna glanced at Tidus before she replied: "First we've planned to visit all places in Spira again. I'd like to show him how much it has changed over the last two years. And we want to visit Kimahri, we promised. And then…" she thought for a second and then smiled "I'd like to live a peaceful life without any troubles until I get old."

"All right then. We're going to Djose to repair the airship."

As they promised to stay in contact Brother offered Yuna and Tidus to fly them to all places in Spira as soon as the Celsius was repaired. Then the Gullwings left and Yuna and Tidus went to the beach were the Aurochs were already waiting. Lulu and Vidina were there as well, sitting a few meters away from them to watch the training. While Tidus went to Wakka Yuna went to Lulu and sat down beside her.

"Hey! You're too late!" Wakka called to Tidus.

"Sorry, but we had to say goodbye to the Gullwings first."

"Just as you like" Wakka smirked as he put his left arm around Tidus' neck and rubbed his hair with his right fist.

"Whoa! Hey, what's that for?"

"First rule: There are no excuses for being too late. Is that understood?" he asked as he stopped rubbing Tidus hair. But as Tidus said "I don't understand why…" he started again until Tidus said: "Ok, ok! I understand, I'll never be too late again!"

"All right then. Let's begin." Wakka said as he let go of Tidus. "Gee! Are you always that mean?" he asked, shaking his hair. But he just received a grin as a response.

Yuna, Lulu and Vidina watched the scene with amusement. As Yuna looked to the rest of the Aurochs who were laughing she said to Lulu: "It looks like they have fun."

"And how. They have a lot of fun. The best thing about it is that Wakka was too late himself. But it seems that he loves teasing Tidus as if he was his little brother."

'That's right' Yuna thought. She remembered how he used to tease Chapp, his little brother who died trying to fight Sin. And she remembered Wakka saying that Tidus reminded him of him.

Sometimes Yuna looked to Vidina and played with him. But most of the time she watched the Aurochs practicing blitzball. Tidus was as fit as before he had disappeared, or at least it seemed like that. But after the training he sat down beside her, gasping and said: "Phew, that was exhausting. I've lost a bit of my fitness."

"That's no wonder" Lulu said, "after all you were in the farplane for two years." he nodded. Then he asked: "When is the next game?"

"Next season." Wakka said, "The Aurochs are pausing because of the baby. So you got enough time to get fit. But if you ask me, you're as fit as a fiddle. Look!" he pointed to the Aurochs who were lying on the sand, struggling for breath "They've trained nearly every day."

"Maybe the training was too rough." Yuna said quietly to Tidus.

It was shortly after midday and after a little break Wakka, Lulu and Vidina and the Aurochs went back to the village. Yuna showed Tidus the cave and told him about the search sphere and the sphere Wakka hoped to find there. Then they went to the cliff Wakka had pushed him down two years ago. "Not again!" he said "Whenever I approach a rock I get pushed down." Yuna giggled. He had told her that Wakka had pushed him down the first day they had met. Then she said: "This time you don't get pushed down."

"Nah" he said "but I wouldn't mind go swimming!" and jumped down the cliff. "Hey! Wait!" Yuna said but she could already hear a splash. As she looked down to him he called: "C'mon! The water is a welcome refreshment."

Yuna hesitated for a second and then went back one step to jump down. As she hit the water she saw something glowing on the ground. "Do you see that?" she asked Tidus, looking to him.

"See what?"

"There on the ground. There is something glowing." But as she looked back to where it was it was gone. He searched the whole ground with his eyes and said: "I don't see anything besides stones and fishes."

"But I saw something glowing. It must be there." she said and started diving for it. "Yuna!" he said and followed. He remembered that she couldn't hold her breath for one minute. But as he saw her staying underwater for two minutes he was taught otherwise. They searched the ground for the glowing thing but it couldn't be seen anywhere. Then Yuna surfaced and Tidus followed one minute later after he was sure there was nothing glowing."

"I couldn't find anything glowing" he said.

"Me too, but what did I see? I could swear to it that there was something."

"Maybe there was something like a Piranha scale reflecting the sunlight."

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Hey, by the way. You didn't tell me that you can stay underwater for more than a minute." he said as they swam towards the lakeside. "I practiced. Wakka taught me how to hold my breath for more than a minute. But I wished I could hold it for five minutes or more."

"That's no problem. All you have to do is practicing. First you have to…" they practiced for a while. It seemed that Yuna improved with every attempt. When they stopped it was in the late afternoon and they went back to the village. Tidus wanted to see the hole in the chamber of the fayth. As they entered the temple he all at once felt that something had changed. The hymn of the fayth couldn't be heard anymore and the trial hadn't to be done anymore as well. And of course there was a big hole instead of the stone of the fayth. He didn't miss it at all. But it was then when he really realized that the fayth were gone. The ones who had helped a summoner fighting Sin. And the ones who had dreamt dreams, like he was. Yu Yevon had summoned these dreams and had made it possible for them to be in Spira. After Yu Yevons death the fayth stopped dreaming and the dreams vanished. So did he. But how did he manage to come back? Did the fayth really gather up his thoughts? How could this explain that a dream was alive, without a dreamer? Or did the fayth start dreaming again? But there was no summoner. All the dreaming wouldn't help without a summoner. For the first time since his return he was really worried.

With mixed feelings he followed Yuna who told him how the temple had been used since Sins death. But he actually couldn't listen to her. There were too many thoughts and fears whirling around in his head. She noticed that he didn't listen anymore but thought that he was tired. After all it was getting dark and he was on his feet the whole day. First the blitzball training, then the sightseeing tour around Besaid and the swimming and diving. She was tired as well.

"C'mon, that's enough for today." she said "It's getting late and the ship to Kilika does leave very early." He nodded. When they went out of the temple there were a few torches lit. Wakka and Lulu were standing in front of their hut.

"Na? You look a bit tired." he said to Tidus.

"Eh? Oh, yeah. I am. Do you mind if I go to bed?" he asked Yuna. As she shook her head he said: "Good night then." and went down the little hill into the hut.

"Is he really that tired?" Wakka asked Yuna.

"I don't think so. Something's on his mind. He was fit all the day until we entered the temple."

"Don't worry." Wakka said. "Maybe he is just tired and the oppressive temple walls finished him off."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. It was a strenuous day. I'm also tired. I'm going to bed as well."

"Good night then." Wakka said.

"When are you leaving to Kilika?" Lulu asked.

"Oh, right. Tomorrow morning. The ship is leaving very early. I don't think we'll see you tomorrow."

"That is not for sure" Lulu said, "Vidina wakes up very early in the morning."

"Haha, we'll see." Wakka said.

"All right. Good night." Yuna said and went down the little hill into the hut as well.

Tidus was lying on his back, his arms behind his head and eyes wide open, staring into space and thinking.

"You're still awake?" Yuna asked calmly.

"Why not? I went to bed just two minutes before you." he replied dejected, still staring.

"Because I know a man who falls asleep while talking." she said as she sat down to the left of him, trying to cheer him up. He smiled, but he wasn't in the mood for laughing. Yuna looked at him and asked: "What's weighing on your mind? Don't say: 'nothing' because you're a bad liar."

He smiled again. Although they had known each other for just a few weeks and then had been separated for two years she knew him all too well.

"It's just…" he started, "when we entered the temple some strange feeling came over me." He told her about his thoughts and fears. Meanwhile Yuna had lain down, her head resting on her hand so she could still look at him and listening carefully. Then he turned his head to look at her and asked: "What if I'm not real? When I'm gonna disappear again?"

Yuna rested her head on his chest and put her arm around him. There was silence all around, even the crickets seemed to stop chirping. She could not only feel but also hear his heart beating. That relieved her and finally she said calmly: "You are real. You're more than a dream. I can feel it." That was enough for him to be relieved too. Yuna could swear that his heartbeat was slowing down a bit. He put an arm around her and rested his hand on her shoulder, while he placed his other hand on her forearm. Then he whispered "I love you" before he closed his eyes to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning the sun was rising and dewdrops were on the grass. Wakka came out of his hut and stretched. Vidina had woken them up. One after another Villager came out of his hut and went to his work. The weaver greeted Wakka as he went by to the weaving mill next to Wakka's hut. Then he heard a sound coming from the CommSphere beside him. As he looked to it he saw Rikku in it. "Hello Wakka." she said. "How are things?"

"Not too bad. Vidina has woken us up again, I wonder how long this will go on. You wanna speak to Yuna?"

"Yes. Is she there?"

"I think so. They wanna go to Kilika and the ship is leaving soon. But I haven't seen her this morning. Ah, they're just coming." he said as Yuna and Tidus came up the little hill. He raised his arm and called: "Hey, hurry up. Someone wants to talk to you."

"Morning Wakka. Did Vidina wake you up again?" Yuna asked. "Yeah. Rikku wants to talk to you." he pointed to the CommSphere. Yuna turned to the CommSphere and said: "Hi Rikku, how are things?"

"That's why I called. The Al Bhed gave us a mysterious sphere." She held it in front of the screen so that Yuna could see it. It was indigo-blue and as big as all the other spheres they had found. "It looks like an ordinary sphere." Yuna said. "What's wrong with it?"

"We don't really know what it is. All we know is that it is no record sphere. Then Shinra tried to use it as a dress-sphere but somehow that didn't work. But as he put it next to the strange thing you've found in Zanarkand it started sparkling. And the big thing gleamed with a hint of light blue."

"Hm, that's really strange. Did the Al Bhed find it in the desert?"

"Yep. They say they found it the day before yesterday after a sandstorm near the oasis. Shinra says it is possible that it was washed ashore like the thing you've found. He thinks that the two spheres are connected in some way."

"That's quite possible. By the way, where are all the others?"

" Outside. They're not only repairing the airship but also improving the mechanics. Even Paine is helping and I must say that she's got a knack for it. Wakka said that you're going to Kilika?"

Yuna nodded "Yeah, that's right. The ship is leaving soon, I guess we better set off before we miss it."

"Hey, we have to go to Kilika too. Gippal asked us to give something to Nooj. Maybe we see you there."

"Yeah, why not. I'd like to see this strange sphere with my own eyes. See you in Kilika then." the screen went black and Yuna and Tidus set off. At the hill there were a Coyote and a Zurvan, lying in wait for prey. As the Coyote saw them it ran towards them, trying to attack.

"I guess there's someone hungry." Tidus said before he defeated it at a single blow. Then the Zurvan attacked them. Tidus tried to hit it but it dodged. As he tried to hit it again he said: "I guess this will take a while."

"Why don't you try it this way?" Yuna asked, aimed her pistol at the fiend and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew past near Tidus and hit it. As the Zurvan vanished into Pyreflies he said playfully: "Whoa, look where you're shooting. You're dangerous, you nearly hit me. "

"Hey, don't be so horrid." she said, giving him a playful nudge and going on.

"Haha. But serious, where did you learn to shoot like that?" he asked as he went on as well. "I mean, the bullet flew past near me, hit the fast moving fiend right in the middle and you weren't afraid you could hit me. Only a very good gunner dares to do something like that. Don't say you've learned that all while being a sphere hunter. You must have been practicing before."

"Well, not really. The first time I held a gun in my hands was when I joined the Gullwings." Suddenly Tidus stopped in his tracks and said: "Did you hear that?"

"No. What?"

"There was a tooting. Could it be -"

"The ship!" Yuna interrupted him. "It's leaving soon. We have to get a real move on!"

"Let's loose no time!" he said as they started running. When they reached the beach the captain was just about to untie the ship's ropes. "Hey! Wait for us!" Tidus called. Exhausted they ran aboard and stopped there, panting and laughing. Then he said: "Phew, that was close."

After a little breather Yuna went to the front of the ship. Tidus looked at her and followed. There she leaned on the rail and looked at the sea. When she heard his approaching footsteps she said:" It's been a while."

"What?" he asked, leaning on the rail beside her and turning his eyes towards her.

"Since I've been on a ship like this. And somehow … it always sets me thinking."

Tidus looked at the sea. After a few seconds of silence he said: "Maybe it's not the ship but the peaceful sea. Back in Zanarkand I often sat by the sea and thought. You're cheerful and suddenly when you reach the soothing sea, whether you like it or not, you find yourself being in a thoughtful mood." Yuna took a glance at him, but he didn't notice it. He seemed to be lost in thoughts. She assumed that he was thinking about Zanarkand. Although it hasn't been real and he hadn't said it she knew that he still missed it. Zanarkand, the city that never sleeps. She wished she could have seen it, but she only knew it as a ruined city.

That reminded her of the strange sphere that he had found there two days ago and the sphere Rikku spoke about.

Then she said: "I still wonder what the mysterious sphere is the Al Bhed have found."

Tidus looked to her and said: "I don't know."

He sighed. "Why did the old man, Maechen, have to go to the Farplane? I'm sure he could have told us something about that."

"You bet. And even if not he would have had something to tell us."

"Yeah." he said, laughing. "He always had a story to tell. But when he started telling he never stopped. Do you remember?"

"Yes." Yuna laughed. Then she said quietly: "But in a thousand years you hear a lot of stories you want to tell someone."

"I still can't believe that he wandered around for a thousand years because he forgot that he's dead. I mean, how is that possible?"

"I don't know." Yuna responded. Then they watched the sea again. As a seagull flew by dropping a piranha scale she said to him: "Do you remember the glowing thing yesterday? What if there really was something. Maybe it is connected with the sphere Rikku told about."

He thought for a second and then looked into her eyes. "So you think it is kind of a sphere?"

"It could be possible. What if there a more of them?"

"Yeah,…" he thought for a second. "There were seven holes in the big sphere and it started to gleam in another color as they placed the mysterious sphere next to it. Maybe you're right." "But wait. The holes were to small for a sphere like that. There has to be something more."

"Hm" he scratched his head. "I've got no idea. But do you know what's still on my mind? We searched he whole ground for the glowing thing but there was nothing. If it really was there, how can it just disappear?"

"I don't know. But I know that there was something."

"Maybe we should search the ground once more. Do you think that Shinra's got an explanation for that?"

"I hope so but I'm not sure. Let's ask him when we're in Kilika."

He turned around to face the deck and put his hands to the back to the rail. Then he looked around and to the sky before he said: "So I guess we have to wait until afternoon."

"No, not anymore." she said before she turned around as well and went two steps towards the middle of the ship. As she turned around to face him she met his questioning look. "The ships have become faster because they're not only powered by Chocobos any longer. I guess the Chocobos will soon be replaced completely by machinas."

"So we're in Kilika by midday?" Yuna nodded. "Great! Then you can show me around in Kilika. I'm dying to see the changes."

Yuna smirked and said: "Well… I'll have to think it over."

As he went one step forward he said playfully: "Hey! What does that mean? Are you getting cheeky?"

"Maybe." she said with a grin on her face as she went back another step. He folded his arms. "Forget it! I know what you're up to. Running away is pointless, you're mine. You forgot?" Yuna shook her head and giggled, trying hard not to burst out laughing. "Is that really so?"

He nodded. Then she got closer to him and wrapped her arms around him, looking him in the eyes. "Wouldn't it be possible that you're mine?"

"Let me think it over…" he said as he wrapped his arms around her as well. But before he could say something she surprised him with a kiss. Then she said: "I guess this was a 'yes'."

"What…?" Now she couldn't keep back the laughing. "Hey, you know you're very…"

"Very what?" she asked as she looked askant at him.

"Ah, forget it. I won't get round to say it anyway." he said laughing. "Well, you could be right." she said before she gave him another kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

It was shortly before midday when the ship was slowing down. They were still at the front of the ship and talking, but now sitting on the stairs and facing backwards. "Are we already in Kilika?" Tidus asked as he noticed the change of speed. Yuna nodded. His eyes followed her as she stood up and reached out for his hand. "C'mon, let's go to the upper deck. From there you can see whole Kilika." Without hesitation he stood up as well and they went to the side of the ship and then up the stairs to the upper deck. There he had a look around. On the upper deck was no one except a few gulls and them. "Over here! " Yuna said as she beckoned him over to the front where he stopped right beside her. Kilika was still a few hundred meters away. As he looked to the closer coming houses he put his hand above his eyes to prevent being blinded by the sun and said: "Wow, are you sure this is Kilika? It looks so different."

"Wait until we're there." she looked at him and then continued: "You won't recognize it. It has changed a lot over the last two years."

He turned around to face her "Don't keep me in suspense. C'mon, I'm sure there's more to tell about than you already did."

She smiled and then said "Yes, there is - whoahh". Suddenly the ship was rammed by something and started rocking which made it hard for them to stay on their feet. But as abrupt as it had come, it had disappeared again. "Are you ok?" he asked her. She nodded. "What was that?" he asked as he looked down at the sea. There he could see nothing but the calm sea and a few fishes and gulls.

"Maybe the captain knows something more. Let's go upstairs again." Yuna said as she turned around and went to the stairs. Tidus throw another glance at the sea before he turned and followed her down the stairs. There they met the captain. "Are you ok?" he asked them. "Yes." Yuna answered. "What was that?" The captain shook his head. "I don't know but I suspect that it was a big fish or something like that. People say that fishermen in Kilika have caught some very big ones in the last few days. But now excuse me please, I have to go back to the helm and navigate the ship. We arrive in Kilika in two minutes."

Yuna watched the captain going back to the steering wheel. "You don't think that it was a big fish?" she looked to Tidus who was standing beside her, one feet still on the stair and leaning against the banister, his arms folded. "I don't know." she answered. "The impact reminded me of Sin two years ago when he attacked Kilika and the whole Vegnagun-story that threatened the calm. I'm afraid that it was something like that again. I wish… I could believe that it was a big fish or something of no importance." She still looked at him as if she was looking for reassurance in his eyes. Then she looked down at her feet. Just as Tidus was raising up and taking a breath to say something she looked up again and said: "Or maybe I'm just imagining because I'm still too close to it all." She tried to smile. Not to deceive him - she knew that wouldn't work - but because she felt a bit better then.

"You know " he said as he went towards the railing and leaned against it, watching a gull in the sky. Yuna followed him and leaned against the railing beside him, looking at him. "Even if it was something bad", he looked at her " we can't do anything at the moment. I guess we have to take it as it comes. Brooding doesn't get us any further."

"Yeah, you're right." as she looked out to the sea again she leaned her head on his shoulder and he put his left arm around her. He knew that she was tired of saving the world - and no one could reproach her for that. After all she had saved it twice. Then he wondered when Yuna could finally live her life without worries. But it appeared to him that trouble haunted her.

"Shall we abandon ship?" she interrupted his thoughts. As he noticed that the ship was berthed his eye fell to the rebuilt Kilika. "Wow", he walked towards the ramp and glanced round. "I've never imagined it having changed like this. No matter how hard I try, I can't recognize it."

Yuna walked beside him. "I know." she said calmly. He stopped at the ramp, looked at her and then said: "I guess the big question mark above my head is conspicuous." This comment caused Yuna to laugh. "Yeah, it is." then she throw a glance at Kilika before they walked down the ramp and said quietly: "But you're not the only one. It was just the same for me. Although Rikku told me about the changes when she visited me on Besaid, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it for the first time."

Down the ramp he stopped again and glanced around. "So, where are we now and where do we go?" he asked her. She stopped by his side. "We're on the southern part of Kilika. I think we go to the northern end of the town this side and go back the other side. Then you should've seen nearly whole Kilika."

"Sounds good!" he said before they started walking again. He looked around very intently. Sometimes he stopped and asked Yuna something, but most of the time they walked side by side without talking. Then Yuna stopped. "Look." she pointed to a house upstairs. His eyes followed her finger. "Do you see the house up there?" he nodded. "This is Dona's. Do you like to visit her?" she looked at him and waited for a response. "Um" he scratched his head. He remembered her mean tricks all too well. But he also knew that she could be kind of friendly. At least as friendly as Dona could be. "Do we have - " "My, my my." They looked up to the house. Dona was standing in front of it. "Who do we have here? The Aurochs blitzball ace and guardian of the high summoner who vanished off the face of the earth as fast as he seemed to appear from nowhere. You haven't put in an appearance for a long time. Where have you been?"

"Um…" he didn't know what he should tell her. No matter what he said, he doubted that she would believe him. As Yuna recognized his problem she said: "That's a very long story and time is short. I'm sorry. But maybe we can tell you the whole story next time."

"So, till next time then." Dona said turned around. Just as she was about to go into her house she turned to face them again and said: " And if you see Barthello, tell him to come home or otherwise I never want to see him again." Then she went into her house.

Tidus passed his hand over his forehead. "Phew, that was close. It seems that Barthello couldn't bear with her any longer."

"I don't think so" Yuna said as they started walking again. "He loves her too much. You should've seen him in the temple a few days ago. Oh, by the way" she looked at him and stopped. "Shall we go to the temple?" He nodded. "Yeah, why not.".

As they were walking through the grove he stopped and looked around. "Wow, this place is just the opposite of the town. It hasn't changed a bit. I still know it like the back of my hand."

"Are you really sure?" Yuna asked. Confused he looked at her. She was standing in front of him with her hands clasped behind her back. "C'mon", he said playfully and folded his arms "What's the meaning of that?"

"Well… " she laughed "follow me." She went straight ahead and then turned right. The usual way to the temple, he thought. But then she stopped at a tree and climbed up. Astonished he had a look at the tree and watched her before he climbed up as well. Then they walked on several horizontally sprouted tree trunks until they reached a small, grass-covered top of a high rock from where they could overlook whole Kilika.

"Amazing!" Tidus said as he went to the edge of the top to have a better view. Then he turned to Yuna who was standing two feet behind him." How did you discover this spot?"

"It was purely by chance. We - what's that?" she run to the edge right beside him and pointed to the sea. Maybe 100 or 200 meters from Kilika was something like a maelstrom. As they watched it, it grew and became more troubled. 'Not again.' Yuna thought. All her worries seemed to be confirmed at that moment.

Suddenly an enormous fish jumped out of it into the air and back into the sea again. Followed by another big fish it swam in a circle and caused another maelstrom while the old one died down.

"What a big fish!" Tidus said in astonishment.

"Unbelievable." Yuna felt a weight lifted from her mind. Then she asked: "Do you think the boat was rammed by such a one?"

He nodded. "I'm sure. They're big and strong enough to capsize a boat. But where do these big fishes come from?".

"I don't really know. After Sins defeat many fiends and animals appeared on places they have never been before. I guess it was just the same with them."

Then they watched the big fishes disappearing in the sea again. "At least the fishermen can be delighted about them." Tidus said before they went back to the path leading to the temple.

Having reached the forecourt of the temple they saw a lot of people talking, laughing and having fun.

"I wouldn't have expected so many people being at the temple." Tidus said, looking around and watching them. "It seems they're still celebrating the reunification" Yuna tried to find a plausible explanation as a horde of children caught her eye. They were listening to an old woman telling a story about a sphere that made every dream come true. "When I was young I loved such stories." Yuna said before a priest came towards her.

"Lady Yuna, I'm pleased to meet you. But I hope your reason for visiting us is a peaceful one this time. There are still some people who are disappointed by your behaviour last time. They can't believe that the high summoner stole the sphere." he said with a smile on his face before he went back into the temple. "You did what?" Tidus asked with surprise. "Didn't you say you had found it?"

"Er…" she blushed and looked down to her feet. "In some way…we did."

As he burst out laughing she raised her eyes.

"So you did steal the sphere. But wait, isn't that Rikku's job?" he asked, trying hard not to burst out laughing again. "Well… I didn't say that it was me who took the sphere…"

"But you did, I can tell it by looking at you." he laughed again. Although she felt embarrassed she had to smile. Yes, in some way it was funny.

Suddenly a rumble interrupted the laughing before it caused Yuna to laugh. "I guess you're hungry." she said as he nodded. "C'mon, I'm hungry too. Let's have a meal."

They went back to the town and stopped in front of a food stall near the Youth League headquarters when they heard someone calling. As they turned around they saw Rikku running towards them, followed by Paine walking at a comfortable speed.

"Hey!" Tidus called as he waved to them.

When Rikku had come to a halt next to them Yuna said: "Hi, Rikku. Did Shinra find out something new about the mysterious sphere?"

"No." she shook her head.

"He hasn't a clue." Paine said as she got to them. Yuna looked around, but as she could see no one she was looking for she asked: "By the way, where are Shinra, Buddy and Brother?"

Paine threw a glance at the Youth League Headquarters before she replied: "Still talking to Nooj and some Al Bhed there. But I'm sure they will be here soon. I guess you wanna see the sphere?" Yuna and Tidus nodded. As his stomach rumbled again Rikku suggested: "I guess we better have a meal before he dies of starvation".

" A good idea, I'm hungry too." Yuna said and looked to Paine. "What about you?"

"No, thank you. I'm not hungry. In the meantime I'm getting the sphere." she said and went to the airship.

As Paine returned with the indigo-blue sphere in her hands they were sitting on boxes on the ship where the cameraman had been, their backs to the sea and eating. "This is the mysterious sphere" she said as she showed it to Yuna and Tidus. It looked just like all the other spheres before. Paine handed it to Yuna who examined it from all sides, but she couldn't find any unusual. "That's really strange." she said. "It looks like an ordinary sphere and yet it is so different."

"Yeah" Rikku said "and don't forget the glowing of the big thing you've found, when we put it next to it."

Tidus scratched his head. "Somehow it makes no sense. In some way they are connected but the holes in the big sphere are too small for the blue one."

Yuna thought for a second before she said: " I'm sure there are more such mysterious spheres like the blue one. And I'm sure the thing in Besaid is connected with them too."

Paine and Rikku looked confused at each other. "Which thing in Besaid?" Paine asked. "Oh, right" Yuna said, "On Besaid we were swimming in the lake. There I saw something glowing on the ground that looked like a sphere, but one second later the glowing was gone. We searched the whole ground for it but we couldn't find anything."

"That's really strange." Paine said as Yuna examined the sphere once more.

Suddenly the sphere flashed and the sea became a bit troubled as waves were constantly increasing. "What's going on here?" Paine asked. Yuna looked up to her and followed her eyes staring at the sea.

Just as Tidus and Rikku she stood up and looked at the more and more troubled becoming sea. Then something big surfaced a few hundred meters away from them and came swimming towards them in high speed, causing the water to roar.

"A fiend!" Rikku shouted.

It was a indigo-blue, huge water-dragon and looked similar to the dragon who guarded Bevelle. But his wings seemed to be changed to a kind of fins and useless for flying.

As it drew nearer Tidus noticed it's incessant staring at the sphere in Yunas hand. "Yuna! It wants the sphere!" he called as they drew their weapons.

"Run!" Paine shouted. "We have to lead it away from the village!"

Yuna looked around for a second, searching for a place to run to. There, the island! Then she started running, followed by Tidus and Rikku. Paine waited for a second, looking if the fiend really followed them. As it changed it's direction and followed them she started running too. Rikku noticed that Paine was lagging behind and slowed down as she turned her head to her. "Paine!" she called. Now Yuna and Tidus noticed it too and slowed down as well. "Run!" she called again. "You have to reach a spot outside the village before the fiend reaches it! Don't worry, I'm catching up with you."

Yuna nodded and started sprinting again, so did Tidus. Rikku ran a bit slower and waited for Paine to catch up. They ran past the houses and irritated people who didn't know what was going on. Having run up the stairs to the island Yuna and Tidus stopped for a second. The fiend was just at distance of about 100 metres. ""There, down the hill !"he said hastily as he pointed to the right. As they started running again Rikku and Paine caught up with them. They ran down a little hill and through a grove along the shore, followed by the dragon that had changed direction once more and now swam parallel to them.

At a little beach they finally stopped. So did the dragon and turned to them, but it didn't draw nearer. Having seen this Paine said: "It seems that the dragon is dependant on deepwater. It can't draw nearer because the water is too shallow."

"So what we're gonna do now?" Rikku asked.

"Watch out!" Tidus called. Just in time they could leap aside before the dragon opened it's mouth and spouted out a jet of water. "Fight it!" Paine replied to Rikku's question and draw her sword. While Yuna could attack it from distance, Rikku, Tidus and Paine had to approach. But as they draw nearer the dragon caused a vortex that made it impossible for them to reach it.

"I guess we can't keep up with it in the deepwater." Rikku said.

"And the shots don't seem to hurt it at all. The bullets just ricochet off it's scales." Yuna called. Paine looked at the dragon that caused another vortex. "It seems that it's got it's weak point somewhere submerged."

"Yuna, Rikku!" Tidus said, "can you attack it from distance and distract it so we two", he looked to Paine, "can stalk up on it?"

Rikku nodded enthusiastically but Yuna looked at him and asked anxiously: "Do you think this will work?" He looked at her too. Finally Paine said: "We should give it a try." and Yuna nodded.

"Ok, " Rikku said, "Let's go!"

Yuna started shooting again and Rikku built little bombs and grenades and threw them at the dragon while Tidus and Paine went into different directions to stalk up on it. He went left and she went right. When the vortex had died down they went into the sea and dived towards the fiend. Paine looked up at it but it was too preoccupied with Rikku and Yuna to notice them, the plan seemed to work out.

As the dragon spouted out another jet of water Tidus looked worried to Yuna and Rikku, but they could leap aside. Then he saw that there were no scales at the dragon's side and dived deeper so he could see Paine again and pointed to it's weak point. She nodded and then they attacked it simultaneously at both sides. It spun around to one side and prepared to cause a vortex and a jet of water at the same time but was interrupted by one of Rikku's special grenades that hit it on the other side that now was turned to her and Yuna.

Tidus and Paine surfaced and attacked the fiend's one side while Yuna and Rikku attacked the other side. It didn't take long and the dragon was beat and vanished into Pyreflies.

"That was easy!" Rikku triumphed.

"What's that?" Yuna called and pointed to the spot where the dragon had been as Paine and Tidus reached the beach. Immediately they turned around. The Pyreflies weren't scattering but dancing in a circle. Then one left the circle and flew towards Yuna before it hit the mysterious sphere and vanished into it.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello, this is chapter six. Sorry that it took so long, I hope I can upload the next chapter soon.

I try hard to make this a good fanfic that represents the characters how they are. I hope they're not too much out of character. If you find some grammatical errors or you think some part of the story is out of harmony with the characters or the rest of the story please tell me. And if you have suggestions for improvement please tell me as well :)

And now enjoy chapter 6. [But don't forget to review ;) ]

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><p>After the remaining Pyreflies had finally scattered like the sphere-hunters were used to it from all the other fights before and the sphere hadn't seemed to have changed they had decided to go back to the Celsius and talk to Shinra. They told him everything that had happened, starting with the thing in Besaid and ending with their way back to the Celsius, before they gave the still indigo-blue glowing sphere to him. He examined it closely but he couldn't find anything unusual either. "Let's see if it does react in a different way to the big thing you have found in Zanarkand now that a Pyrefly lives inside it." He put the indigo-blue sphere next to the big thing as he had done it the last time when the big thing started to gleam with a hint of light-blue. Everyone looked in eager anticipation at the spheres and waited for a reaction as the little one started sparkling and the big one gleamed with a hint of light blue. But after a few seconds the sparkling and gleaming stopped and to everyone's surprise nothing further happened.<p>

Shinra was the first one who broke the silence and said: "Um, that's really strange."

"Is that all?" Rikku asked before Shinra said: "That's really strange. " Shinra said. "It looks and reacts exactly like before. Are you sure that a Pyrefly went into the sphere?" he asked as he looked up to them. Without hesitation they nodded their heads simultaneously.

"I have seen it with my own eyes." Paine confirmed before she took the indigo sphere and examined it from all sides "Why did the Pyrefly go into the sphere and what did it alter?"

She could see that Shinra was brooding. He knew that something must have changed but he didn't know what, so he just answered: "I need more time for that, I'm just a kid."

"So you've got no idea what's going on." Paine said. Shinra, still examining the sphere, replied: "I didn't say I don't know, I just need more time."

"I see." she replied and turned away.

Then Buddy, who had listened attentively, asked: "What about the thing in Besaid? Do you think it -" "Yes, it is quite within the bounds of probability that they are connected somehow." Shinra interrupted Buddy and completed his thought. "The thing in Besaid seems to be very similar to the mysterious sphere the Al-Bhed have found. Both appeared at nearly the same time, were as big as an ordinary sphere and glowed. The sphere from Bikanel glowed indigo-blue and the thing in Besaid…" he stopped for a second and turned to Yuna "by the way, in which color did the thing in Besaid glow?"

Yuna recalled the scene to mind. "I can't say for sure, I saw it just for a moment when I hit the water which was very turquoise-colored that day. But I think it glowed with a hint of green."

"I see" Shinra said.

"But unlike the sphere in Bikanel it disappeared again. As we searched the ground for it we couldn't find anything."

"Maybe it doesn't glow continuously and drifted off." Shinra tried to explain it because he couldn't find an explanation. Then he turned to the indigo-blue sphere again before Buddy stretched and said:" So let's give him more time" Then went to the elevator.

Yuna threw another glance at the spheres before she looked at Tidus and said: "I need to get some fresh air. Are you coming with me?" he nodded and they went to the elevator, that was on it's way back to the bridge. They went into it and Yuna pressed the button which brought them to the deck. There she went to the front and stopped near the gull that was adorning the Celsius. Tidus followed but stopped a few feet away. It was evening and the sun was setting, sending warm but weaker becoming sunbeams to Spira.

Yuna looked at the sun that seemed to melt at the horizon before she took a deep breath and said: "What a day. I wouldn't have imagined it to go the way it has. Actually I wanted to show you everything that has changed and have a good time and…and just be near you." She turned her head around and looked at him before she watched the setting sun again and continued. "And now we're standing here, having fought against a big fiend that would have nearly knocked down Kilika because of a mysterious sphere and thinking about the strange spheres that appeared from the middle of nowhere."

"Yuna" he said so quietly that he could only hear it hardly himself.

"But you're right," she continued and turned her head to him once more, "we have to take it as it comes and face it, there's nothing else we can do, right?"

"Well," he said "there's no one you have to take orders from. We could still run away and …" he had to smile because it reminded him of their conversation in the Macalania spring two years ago, before he even started laughing. First Yuna looked a bit confused at him until he said: "Somehow this seems so familiar to me." Yuna remembered it too and smiled "Yeah, you're right. That day we dreamed of going to your Zanarkand." she paused for a second "I wish I could have seen it."

"Yeah" he said in a low voice as he went a few steps forward to the edge of the airship and sat down "Zanarkand: the city that never sleeps, the city that was only a dream. You would have liked it."

"Please" she sat down beside him "tell me more about it. I wanna know how life was there, as if I would have been there myself."

In greater detail than two years ago he told her about the city, his life there and the Blitzballgames as well as the day Sin attacked Zanarkand.

Meanwhile the sun had disappeared and as he remembered his first day in Spira he started laughing. But just as he wanted to explain Yuna why he was laughing they heard the door open and looked reflexively to it. It was Rikku. "Sorry, I don't want to interrupt."

"Hey Rikku." Yuna said. "You don't interrupt. He's just laughing, but don't ask me why."

Still laughing Tidus answered: "I've just remembered my first day in Spira when I met Rikku."

"Hey!" Rikku called "what's there to laugh about? Are you making fun of me?"

"No" he uttered before he even started more laughing. Yuna had to laugh too as a smirk appeared on Rikkus face and she came up to him. "Sorry Yuna" she said "I know he's your boyfriend, but he has to pay for that."

"Hey hey hey" he tried to appease Rikku, his arms extended to protect himself against a potential attack.

"There's no escape, Yunie won't help you." Right in front of him she suddenly stopped and burst out laughing. While Yuna laughed as well Tidus looked confused at Rikku and then said: "Phew, that was close. I know why I was afraid of you when we first met."

"You where what?" Yuna asked confused as Rikku burst out laughing again. "Hey! That's not funny." he said to Rikku. "You knocked me out and didn't let me see the inside of the ship, you remember? It was dark and cold outside."

"Sorry" Rikku answered, still laughing. "You were a stranger. But don't forget that we gave you food-" "Yeah, after I'd helped you finding the airship and nearly died of starvation."

"Hey, wait. You would have nearly killed yourself because you were eating too much too fast!"

As a result of this comment Yuna burst out laughing. Both, Rikku and Tidus, looked at her before she said to him: "This seems familiar to me. I guess you're eating me out of house and home." While Rikku started laughing again he looked surprised at Yuna. "Hey, on which side are you?"

"At least you two are well suited. Right Yunie?" surprised Yuna spun around. "Hey, what does that mean?"

"Oh, no particular reason. But do you remember the fight against the big fiend in Bikanel a few days ago? The Al-Bhed were very good cooks, weren't they?" As Yuna realized what Rikku meant, she blushed. "Rikku! Stop it."

"Ha ha ha, it's too late. I think I know what she's going to say. So I'm not the only one who's eating much."

"You should have seen her. She-" "Hey!" a voice from behind called. Surprised they all turned around to see the person standing in the doorway, it was Paine. As she walked to them she said: "I've got something new. Clasko called and said something about a Chocobo and a sphere. Now Shinra wants to talk to us because he thinks that it could be the missing link."

"Sounds interesting." Yuna said as she stood up.

"And before I forget:" Paine turned to Rikku "You did guzzle as well. Seems it runs in the family." Then a grin appeared on her face as Rikku spun around surprised. "What? You did - hey, that's mean." Rikku complained as she followed Paine to the elevator. Yuna and Tidus laughed at this and then they went to the elevator as well.

Back at the bridge they went to Shinra who was waiting for them. As he was sure everyone would listen he said: "Clasko called a few minutes ago. He told me that he has found a weakened Chocobo. As he was brushing it's coat he found a little crystal sphere sticking to it. I think it is connected to the strange spheres we've found so far. And maybe it is the missing link."

"Yes, I think you're right." Yuna said. "Did he say where he found the Chocobo?"

Shinra shook his head. "No. I asked him but he couldn't answer. That mean Chocobo destroyed the comm-sphere again."

"So our next destination is decided." Paine said as Buddy looked out of the window and said to everybody around: "It's already dark and I think we're all a bit tired. I suggest we stay the night in Kilika, what do you think?"

"Very good idea." Rikku answered as she stretched. "This day was exhausting enough. I don't think that Clasko is expecting us today."

"So it is decided!" Brother said loudly. "We stay the night here and tomorrow we fly to Clasko and get the sphere. And now let's call it a day Gullwings!"

Then he went to the elevator, Buddy followed him. Paine turned to Yuna and Tidus again "What about you two? Are you coming with us?" Yuna looked to Tidus to make sure of his agreement before she turned to Paine again and answered: "Yes. I couldn't just go to Luca or any other place in Spira without knowing what secret the mysterious spheres hide. I would always think about it." After Yuna had said this Rikku jumped around for joy. "So the Gullwings start on a new adventure! Let's celebrate it!" Then she went to the elevator too as Paine shook her head. "Just now she was tired and then she jumps around and wants to celebrate. That figures."

"Don't let us take away her enjoyment." Shinra said before the group went to the elevator as well.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi everybody,

I know it's been a while [more than a year :( ] since the last update, but I hope you're still interested in the story.

Please review and let me know what you think of the story and especially of this chapter. And if you don't like it, let me also know. ;) [and in this case: please tell me, what you don't like about it].

And at last: Unfortunately, my time is very limited. So I can't say, when the next chapter will be uploaded. But I try my best to upload it as fast as possible.

And now: read and enjoy.

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><p>The next day they went to the calm lands. Of course, Tidus was impressed by all the changes that had occurred there. Once an expanse of wide plains where not even a handful of people could be seen the calm lands had changed to a kind of amusement park. People where enjoying themselves and playing minigames or just wandering around and being amazed at the landscape. He remembered Lulu's words two years ago when she had said that the road ended here and that beyond would only be endless plains. But now it seemed to have shriveled up and have become just a stopping-off place for travelers. Somehow the description 'calm lands' had become inappropriate for this place.<p>

But he was also curious to see the new calm lands and so he actually wanted to watch the minigames and play one or another. But Clasko was waiting and so he had to be content with seeing the ones they passed, at least for the present.

As they reached the Chocobo Farm Clasko gave them a hearty welcome. "Lady Yuna! I'm so happy to see you."

"Hello Clasko, how are things?"

"All right, but the Chocobos not travelling are bored. I have to think something up to keep them occupied, do you have any idea?"

"Hm." Yuna thought before Paine said:" You called because of a crystal sphere sticking to a Chocobo?"

"Yes." Clasko answered before he lead them to a still weakened Chocobo. "This one here looked very bad yesterday. It was very weak and its coat was matted. It also has got some little injuries, but they will heal up soon. I gave him fodder and medical attention and brushed it's coat. Today you look much more healthy." he said to the Chocobo as he ruffled its fur. As a result the Chocobo jumped for joy before it went to the group and looked if they had something to eat. Then it went back to Clasko as he continued: "And while brushing its coat I found this sticking to it." He put his right hand into his pocket and got a little round, like a marble looking thing from it. It was crystal clear and could also be a sphere, just smaller than the normal ones. As Clasko handed it to Yuna she could swear that something was reflected in it. So she turned her head and looked around.

"Is there something wrong?" Paine asked.

"I don't know" Yuna said as she still looked around. Then she turned her head to the group again and said: "I saw something being reflected in it. I looked like there were many bright lights, so I turned around to see where they come from. But I don't think, that it reflected the lights here in the farm. There were much more and they were also brighter."

"So what could it be?" Rikku asked.

"I don't know." Yuna said. As she looked at the little thing again she couldn't see anything strange about it. She could clearly look through it.

"I didn't see anything being reflected in it." Paine said "but maybe we should go out and have a good look at it in the daylight. It's too dark in here for that and the lights could also be deceptive."

Yuna nodded and so they went outside. In front of the farm Buddy, Brother and Shinra arrived on the scene. They were of course curious to see the strange thing. As Yuna showed it to them it reflected the sunlight. But suddenly it seemed to be reflecting something different. Without saying any word everyone looked surprised and curious at it. First there were clouds to be seen in it. Paine turned around and looked at the sky, but there was no single cloud in sight. So she turned her head to the thing again. The clouds being reflected at the little sphere moved and gave sight to something that looked like the globe. Then the clouds covered the globe again and as they thinned out the next time a rainbow could be seen. But the rainbow didn't last long and as it faded away Paine could slowly but steady look right through the little sphere until there was only the sun in her back left to be reflected in it.

"Did you see that too?" Rikku asked everybody around.

"If you mean the clouds, the globe and the rainbow: Yes." Paine responded as everyone, still looking fascinated at the little thing, nodded.

Buddy was the next to break the silence and asked:"What was that and what does it mean?" His eye fell on Shinra, hoping for an explanation or at least a try to explain the mysterious event. But all Shinra did was gazing at the thing in Yuna's hands. It seemed as if he would not even have heard Buddy's question. Finally he said to Yuna:"That's really fascinating. May I have it, please?" Yuna nodded. But before she could hand it to Shinra she once again saw something reflecting in it. And again she saw many bright lights, like city-lights or something similar. But the reflection was very faint. And as she blinked it was gone. Only the transparent little sphere was left.

"Hey, there was another reflection. Did you see it?!" Rikku asked excited. Yuna nodded.

„Watch out!" Paine shouted. Yuna abruptly turned around, but it was too late. A flying fiend swooped down on the group and caused them to fall on the ground. But as fast as it had occurred it was gone, flying away towards the direction it had come from.

"Is everyone okay?" Tidus asked uprising and looking especially to Yuna. She nodded.

"What was that?" Clasko asked as he dusted himself down.

„I don't know, I can't remember having ever seen such an aggressiv Condor like that", Paine responded, gazing after it.

"The little sphere!", Yuna exclaimd "It is gone!" She looked everywhere around, but couldn't find it.

"The fiend!, Tidus said, "It must have stolen it."

"That direction!" Paine showed to a little moving point at the sky. She wasn't willing to cede the little sphere to the condor without a fight and started running after it. Yuna, Tidus and Rikku followed. The fiend was flying towards the entrance of the calm lands.

"Lady Yuna!" Clasko called after her. The group turned around. "I'm sure they're willing to help you" he continued and whistled. Four Chocobos came running out of the farm and collected the four Condor-chasers.

At the back of the Chocobos they gained on the fiend. It was flying towards the entrance of the calm lands but didn't leave them. Instead it turned off to Remium-temple. The way towards the temple had become hard to negotiate inasmuch as boulders had come off from the cliffs to the left and right of the path and blocked the way. But the Chocobos had no considerable problems with that. In front of the suspension bridge that seemed to be still intact they stopped.

Yuna looked around. "Where is the Condor?"

"Over there!" Paine pointed to the right side of the temple. It was flying towards the right outbuilding at the back of the temple. There it flew through a window inside.

"Let's get there and fetch back what's ours!" Rikku said motivational and induced the Chocobo to walk forwards. But in front of the bridge it stopped and refused to cross the bridge.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" she asked the Chocobo and tried again inducing it to cross the bridge. But it refused again. The other three did the same.

"So I guess we have to continue on foot." Paine said and got off the Chocobo.

Yuna looked at the bridge as she got off her Chocobo too."But why do the Chocobos not want to cross the bridge? I hope it is still intact".

"We have to try to cross it. From this side it seems to be stable enough to be crossed." Paine said, "I go forward and check it, wait here until I give you a sign." Without hesitating she made the first step. She held on to the railing and walked slowly.

The bridge swayed a bit and here and there a plank was missing. But it was still stable enough to sustain the group. Having reached the middle of the bridge she turned her head around and beckoned the others over: "The bridge is still stable enough to sustain us. If you keep little distance to the one in front, nothing is going to happen." Rikku was the next to cross the bridge. Then Yuna and at last Tidus followed. As Tidus had reached about the middle of the bridge shrieking could be heard. It was the shriek of a fiend. Tidus and Yuna stopped and looked towards the direction it had come. It had come from the outbuilding the Condor had flown in a few minutes before. Then the Condor flew outside, followed by a Garuda that tried to attack the condor. The Condor flew frantically around, trying to escape the Garuda's attack. In doing so it flew towards the other side and caused the Chocobos to flee.

"Watch out!" Paine and Rikku simultaneously called to Yuna and Tidus, who were still on the bridge.

The other fiend tried again to attack the Condor but missed it. Instead it hit the bridge at the side where the Chocobos stood and coursed it to sway violently. Yuna and Tidus kept a firm hold on the railing and tried to reach the other side as fast as they could. Just as Tidus had reached the last plank, the first rope snapped.

"Whoaa!" reflexively Yuna stretched out her hands. Thankfully he took it and pulled up. Back on solid ground he heaved a sigh of relieve. "That was close".

Just then the second rope snapped and the bridge crashed into the rock face, now hanging like a ladder on it.

The Condor, still followed by the Garuda, turned, flew around the temple and then both vanished behind a cliff.

"Phew, what was that?" Tidus sighed.

"It seems that we're not the only ones who hunt the Condor. Better let's hurry and find the sphere before still more fiends appear." Paine responded. "And I hope in doing so we find a way to get back."

Rikku looked to the outbuilding the Condor had flown in:"Maybe it's got it's nest in there. Do you think the sphere is in there?"  
>"I can't say for sure, but I didn't see the Condor carrying it with it. At least it's worth a try, isn't it?"<p>

Rikku nodded. Then they went around the temple to the right and up to the outbuilding. At least the way to it was passable. The door was slightly ajar and easy to open. In the dark corridor old objects like chests and cupboards and their components were strewn all over the floor. In addition to that stones, which had fallen out of the wall, made the corridor more difficult to pass. After this little climbing session they reached the stairwell. The spiral staircases lead them to the next storey that was one circular room. At least there were three big windows that let enough light into the room. Yuna looked around. Like in the corridor, old furniture indicating the temples heyday was all over the place. Then her sight fell to the middle, where straw, dry grass and moss built a bird's nest.

"Look." she said to the group as she pointed to the nest. Under a thin layer of straw was something that reflected the daylight – the little sphere. Quickly they went to it and took the sphere.

"Got it!" Rikku jumped for joy.

Meanwhile Paine went to a window and looked out, then she went back to the group: "I can't see the fiends, but nevertheless, we better hurry, don't know when they come back."

Yuna nodded. She took the sphere and put it in her pocket. Then she said to the group: "Let's go."

They went back down the stairs and outside. While walking to the front of the temple Rikku asked:" So, how do we get back? I guess this terrain is too rough for the airship." The others looked around at the cliffs and rocks.

"I guess you're right" Paine said, looking at the broken bridge, "the only way left I know is via the chamber of the faith through the abyss". She stopped and looked around the group, waiting for agreement. Yuna hesitated: she didn't want to go again into the realm of the dead. But in view of the fact that there seemed to be no other way she nodded.

In front of the temple door Tidus stopped. "What's that? Do you hear that?" he asked around, pointing at the door. "It sounds like – " - "Fiends!" Paine interrupted. "Many fiends. Apparently, too many for us to cope with.".

Rikku sat down distressed. "So, what now?"

"Look for another way or open the door and get eaten by the fiends." Paine responded as she walked back towards the bridge. As the others followed Rikku stopped in her track. „Hey, did you hear that too?"

Yuna and Tidus stopped and turned to Rikku.

"What?" Yuna asked. But before Rikku could give an answer Tidus did: „The Condor!" he called as he pointed to the spire of the first right outbuilding. Everyone turned around.

The condor sat at the spire of the outbuilding and gazed at them. Having noticed that it had been detected it flew straight up to them to attack. The Garuda appeared as well. It seemed that it had been lying in wait on the next outbuilding, but this time not for the Condor. Instead it seemed that it made common cause with the Condor. As it also prepared to attack, Paine, Yuna, Tidus and Rikku drew their weapons. But instead attacking them the two fiends attacked the temple door and caused it to crack. Now the fiends inside attacked the door as well and the crack became bigger and bigger. It was only a matter of time until the door would burst.

"The door!" Yuna called. The others stopped attacking the two fiends and took a glance at it. And then it happened: The door shattered into pieces and Coyotes and other fiends streamed out of the temple.

"Run!" Paine called as the fiends run towards them. The group ran towards the left side of the temple, looking for a way out. But the fiends had also run around the temple to the left and blocked their way.

"In there!" Paine called as she pointed to an outbuilding on the left. It seemed to be in ruinous condition, but it was the only way left. So they jumped over rocks that blocked the way and ran into the building. At least the door was intact and could be shut. Inside Paine said: "Help me." as she went to a chest. They started piling up stones, chests and everything they could find to stabilize the door. With their backs leaned against the pile they heaved a sigh of relieve.

"What now?" Tidus asked as he looked around. The building was in ruinous conditions, everywhere stones had fallen off the wall and the stairs towards the next floor had also fallen in a long time ago. Yuna went a few steps towards the remains of the stairs and looked around. Then she stopped and peered up to the next floor. Tidus could swear that she had detected something. "What is there?" he asked.

„I don't really know, but up there seems to be something gleaming."

Now the others also went towards the remains to look what there was. Rikku jumped up and down to have a better look "I guess you're right. I also see something gleaming, but I can't make out what it is".

"Let's find out!" Tidus said and started piling up the objects they hadn't piled up at the door. But the pile was still too low to identify the gleaming thing.

"What now?" Rikku asked, „Shall we take the chests from the pile in front of the door? ".

"I guess that's no good idea." Paine said, looking at the quivering door. The fiends run against the door, trying to get in.

"I've got an idea." Yuna said to Tidus. „Let me get on your shoulders, then I should be able to make out what there is." He nodded and with her on his shoulders, he went on top of the little pile.

"Do you see something?" Rikku asked eagerly.

"Yeah. There are more chests, covering the gleaming thing. But as far as I can see, it seems to be a teleport-platform!"

"What's a teleport-platform doing up there?" Rikku asked irritated. She had expected a sphere or something else, but not a teleport-platform.

"I don't know." Yuna answered Rikkus question, "but I can climb up and give you the chests so you can see it with your own eyes." She climbed up and looked around. But except the teleport-platform and empty chests there was nothing else. Then she gave the chests down to the others who piled them up. Before climbing up Paine looked at the door again, she wasn't sure if it would withstand the attacks.

Upstairs they kneeled down and had a good look at the platform, but nowhere was a hint that revealed the destination. Then Paine said:"The fact that the teleport-platform gleams, means that it still works. In view of our hopeless situation we should give it a try and teleport." Then she added in a low voice:" Although we don't know where it will take us."

Having become aware of the fact, that it was the only way to get away from the hordes of fiends, the others nodded. Yuna stood up and resolutely she said:"Let's go."


	8. Chapter 8

After teleporting the first things they could see were big rocks and steep cliffs all around. Even on the ground was hardly any plant growing. Nearly simultaneously they descended the teleport-platform and looked around. In some way it looked like the mushroom rock ravine. The teleport-platform was placed near the edge of a plane that was surrounded by high cliffs. Actually some sunbeams would still be able to reach the ground - even if only weakly, Tidus thought. After all they did it at some spots. But mostly the ground was covered by a big shadow. So Tidus looked upwards: Above was the Remium-temple, hanging maybe 200 metres above the ground. "Look!" he said to the tree girls as he pointed up at the temple.

"The temple," Yuna said, "so the teleport-platform brought us to the ground of the chasm it is hanging above." Paine looked around again. The plane was more or less circular and maybe 400 metres in diameter. Here and there were some small coves, but at first sight there seemed to be no way going on.

"Safe from most of the fiends, but still trapped. Guess we better look for a way out." she said. And so they split up and explored the plane and the cliffs. But hope faded with every step they made, for there was no path or something similar to lead them out. "Here's not even a chance of getting out." Yuna called with desperation in her voice.

Tidus examined and tapped the wall rising up in front of him closely, but there was nothing but a hard and massive stonewall. Face to the wall, he supported himself with his hands against the cliff and looked down at the stony ground. Then he turned to the girls and answered "Here it's not much different".

But then Rikku called: "Hey, look! Maybe here's a way". Taking new hope, they all went towards Rikku. In front of her was a thin gap in the cliff. It was too thin for a person to go through, but it allowed a sight towards the other side of the rock face. There was a short, about 50 m long, tunnel and at its end sunbeams fell in and lightened the ground. There even seemed to be grass growing.

„This seems to be the only chance for a way out, for the rest the cliff is continuous." Paine said. Tidus scratched his head. "But how do you plan to get through? I guess the sword won't help us widening the gap."

"Step aside!" Rikku alerted as she used her special dress sphere. With Machina Maw it was a simple thing to extend the gap so a person could pass it easily. Tidus was a bit surprised and impressed he watched Rikku drilling a passage. After she had done so and put on her thief-costume again, they walked through the short tunnel. On the other side was a path leading through a broad ravine downhill. It ended in a small grass covered mountain ledge that was hanging maybe 500 metres above the ground. Except for one side, where a steep rock face rose about 300 metres into the air, it gave sight to all directions. Tidus looked around: Below was a big area of waste land, here and there crossed by some smaller rivers and chains of hills. Near the horizon was the sea, he guessed. He knew he had seen this area before. That was when he was standing on the edge of the calm lands, two years ago. So he looked up the rock face. On top of it must have been the calm lands. Then he looked further around and to his left the path was going on, leading downhill towards another mountain ledge. There it went a bit uphill again, but on the whole it seemed to go downhill.

Yuna went next to him and looked at him. As she asked: "What do you think: where will the path lead us to?" he turned his eyes towards her. "I can't say for sure, it seems that it leads to the waste lands below. But one thing I'm sure of: on top of the rock face are the calm lands."

"That's what I thought too." She responded as her eye fell up the rock face and then to the area below. "There seems no path going up again. Since our little communicators don't work at the moment, we can nothing do but follow the path."

Then he looked to the two other girls who were standing a few feet away. Rikku was tinkering about with her microphone, but she couldn't make it work.

"Give it up!" Paine said to her. "Maybe it works again later."

"Does this happen from time to time? Tidus asked Yuna again. "I'm not sure. I can't remember them not working - except for one time: That was when I had fallen into the Farplane. Shinra tried to contact me, but it didn't work until I was back in Bevelle."

Then both were silent and paused for a thought, before they followed the along moving Rikku and Paine.

Via some more mountain ledges the path led down towards the waste lands. Noticeably the vegetation turned from grass and some flowers on the upper mountain ledges to only some scattered, specialized plants on the lower ones. Having arrived at the waste lands they looked around:

The waste lands seemed endlessly. The sea they had seen from the highest mountain ledge wasn't on view anymore - only rock-filled soil, a few scattered plants, huge rocks and hills and a river in the distance. At their backs was the high cliff with the calm lands on its top. It was connected with hills and rocks, forming a mountain range whose highest mountain Mt. Gagazet was.

Halfway between the river and the group Yuna could perceive two figures, drawing nearer to them. Paine saw them too. "Looks like we're not the only ones down here."

Yuna nodded. "If I could only recognize who or what it is, maybe they could help us."

"Maybe", Paine responded, "but they could also attack us. We should be careful."

Then the two figures changed course and went straight towards another, less steep spot of the mountain chain.

"But we never find out when we keep standing here." Tidus said.

"Yeah." Rikku agreed. „We should go and check up who or what it is."

So they started walking along the cliff towards the spot the two figures also seemed to be heading to, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. After a while the two figures stopped and looked towards the group. "I guess we've been detected." Yuna said. Then the two figures chanced course again and went straight towards the group. Drawing nearer and seeing their faces they seemed to be familiar figures.

Paine stopped. "Are that – "

"Young Ronso!" Yuna interrupted gladdened. „I'm sure that are Lian and Aid."

"Hey!" Rikku called and waved her arms to them. "It's us, the gullwings!"

Having recognized them, the two Ronso were obviously delighted and moved faster towards the gullwings, who were fast moving towards the Ronso as well.

"Lady Yuna! Lian and Aid are pleased to meet you."

"I'm pleased as well." She said, "What are you doing here?"

"Elder Kimahri allowed Lian and Aid to explore sacred mountains surroundings. Young Ronso should see the world with own eyes, elder said. Now Lian and Aid are on the way back to sacred mountain. What is Lady Yuna and friends doing here?"

"Well" Yuna said "Actually we've got lost and are looking for a way back to the calm lands. If you don't mind we'd tag along with you. Then I'll tell you the whole story."

The two Ronso nodded, and so the gullwings followed the two Ronso and explained what had happened. About 3-4 km off the path that had led the gullwings from Remium to the waste lands, another path led into the mountains. It was a long way; some parts were very steep and made it necessary to climb. After a while Yuna could feel it getting colder and colder with every elevation gain. But finally they came out on top of an icy and snow covered mountain spur, from where they could see the archway and the ronso.

"This way." Lian said, and by a little devious route they got downhill to the ronso.

Kimahri!" Yuna run square to him. A bit surprised he turned around to her with a smile on his face. Yuna could swear that it grew bigger, as he caught sight of Tidus. As he walked towards Kimahri and Yuna the other Ronso turned to him. Kimahri smiled again and then said to him: "Kimahri glad to see Tidus with own eyes standing there again. And Kimahri glad to see Yuna smile and be happy again. Kimahri never seen Yuna happy like this throughout last two years. "

"Hi!" Tidus said. He first didn't know what to say. Of course, they had spoken via the commsphere before and Kimahri had said something similar to him. But now it left him speechless. Maybe it was because he became aware of the grief Yuna had to bear while he was gone.

Then Kimahri looked to Lian and Aid and asked: "Where Yuna and friends coming from?"

"Right," Yuna said "I guess I start at the beginning of the story." and so she told the story once more…

Kimahri listened carefully and the thing about the strange spheres seemed to awaken his interest. As Yuna was coming to the end of the story, it seemed he wanted to say something, but he stayed silent and pondered over something.

Meanwhile Paine turned to Rikku and asked her: "Rikku, what about your communicator, does it work again?"

"Don't know, that's a good question," she answered as she looked at her pocket "what about yours?"

Paine shook her head. "It's still not working."

So Rikku put hers out of her pocket and switched it on. As she put it to her ear she said "Nothing.", then she started walking around, looking for some reception. Paine followed her a few steps before she said to her "This didn't work either". Thereupon Rikku stopped "I wonder why they are not working - Ohh! Hey, I can hear something!"

"What?!" Immediately Paine put her communicator to her ear as well.

„Hey!" Paine called to the group around Kimahri and pointed to her headset. Hastily Yuna put her communicator out of her pocket as well.

"Are they working again?" Tidus asked after she had put it to her ear.

„Im not sure," Yuna answered "I can hear some kind of… it's hard to describe. It almost sounds like a kind of whispering. But I can't understand anything." Then she was quiet, listening to her communicator.

"Whispering?" Rikku asked. „I can only hear acoustic noise." Then both, Yuna and Rikku, looked to Paine. "Now there's dead silence." She responded. „But I have to agree Rikku, I heard only acoustic noise"

„But I still hear the whispering" Yuna said. "If I could only underst – Ahhhh!"

"Yuna!" Tidus called.

Quickly Yuna removed the communicator from her ear. "I'm ok." She said as she rubbed her ear. Rikku and Paine had removed their communicators as well and run towards Yuna.

"Suddenly the whispering was gone and I heard something like a heart-piercing cry." Yuna explained. "It was so loud that it hurt." Then she took her communicator to put it to her ear once again. "I have to check if there is still something-"

"Aid!" Lians voice interrupted her. Immediately the group turned to the two young Ronso. Lian pointed to Aids bag as he said: "Look!"

Something inside the bag was glowing. So Aid opened the bag and got a crystal clear, gleaming thing out of it. It had the shape of a human heart. He turned it around in his hands as he looked fascinated at it. Then he went closer to Kimahri and held it up to him with extended arms. "Lian and Aid have found this in the waste lands at the foot of sacred mountain. Great River washed it up to Aids feet. But when Aid picked it up, it was not glowing."

Kimahri looked at the thing. Then he turned to Yuna and the gullwings. "Kimahri does not know what it is. But maybe Yuna can make use of it." Aid nodded and handed it to Yuna. It had not only the shape of a human heart, but at one side it had also two hollows: one hollow was big enough so that a normal sized sphere slotted into it. The other was far smaller. First Yuna turned it around in her hands as well, but then she held it tight with both hands and looked at it.

"I've got an idea. Could you hold this for a sec?" she asked Tidus and handed it to him as he nodded. Then she opened her pocket. The little sphere was also glowing, if only faintly. She put it out of her pocket and took the strange thing in the other hand. Then she put the little sphere into the smaller hollow - it fitted perfectly. After that the whole heart-shaped thing flashed for a few seconds, then it grew weaker and finally the gleaming was gone.

"What was that?" Lian asked as Rikku jumped for joy. „Seems to me we've found the missing link. I'm sure it is connected to the other spheres."

Paine, Tidus and Yuna nodded. „I guess you're right." Yuna said.

"So, let's get back to the Celsius and tell Shinra." Rikku said motivated. Yuna nodded and turned her head to the Ronso. As she caught sight of Lian and Aid she said: „Just wait a sec".

"Lian and Aid hope strange thing will help Lady Yuna finding out more about strange spheres. Lian and Aid will try to help Lady Yuna, if she wishes."

„That's nice." Yuna thanked them. "If we find out something, I will tell you and keep you informed". Then she turned to Kimahri. "Kimahri delighted Yuna and Tidus been here." He said and smiled.

"I wish we could have stayed longer, but we'll visit you soon again." Yuna responded whereupon Kimahri nodded.

After the others had said goodbye as well, they set off for the Celsius. As they walked down the path to the calm lands it was already getting dark. "It's getting late. Time that we get back." Tidus said, whereupon Paine turned her head to him. "I guess the others will already be looking for us."

"But just think of their looks when we show them the… er … by the way what is this thing anyway?" Rikku joined the conversation.

"I would say it's kind of a…um… sphere-…?. I don't know it either." Tidus responded.

"Well" Paine thought aloud, „Let's just call it a sphere-crystal. I guess that's what describes it best."

"Hey, that's a good idea. So it is a sphere-crystal. Why didn't I think of that?" Rikku said.

"Maybe because I'm the clever one of us." Paine grinned.

"Hey!" Rikku complained and run in front of Paine. There she put her hands on her hips and looked Paine in the eye. „ Are you saying that I'm not clever?"

"Maybe" Paine responded with a grin as she went past Rikku.

"That's mean!" Rikku called as she run after the now laughing Paine. Tidus couldn't restrain laughter too and looked towards Yuna: She smiled, but somehow it was a weary smile.

"At least Yuna stands by me." Rikku interrupted his thoughts.

"What makes you think that?" Paine asked her.

"Because she's not laughing"

"But that doesn't mean anything." Yuna joined the conversation with a grin.

"Hey, that hurts like hell." Rikku tried to act all offended, but she had to grin instead. Now the whole group started laughing heartily at this as the sun cast its last warm rays of the day on their way.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey, here's the next chapter. Enjoy reading and don't be afraid to leave a comment - this would really mean a lot to me. I don't want this story to be a fanfiction that loses touch with the game and its facts. Instead I want this to be a story that could be a realistic sequel to the game, taking into account the events that have happened so far as well as the gained knowledge about Spira. So if you think I'm missing my aim, feel free to inform me about that. It would be a great help to me.

But that's enough talking for now. Enjoy reading :)

* * *

><p>It wasn't long before they reached the Chocobo Farm. Clasko and Buddy were standing in front of the door, their backs towards the entrance to the calm lands and talking about something. As they noticed someone coming to the farm, they turned around and looked at the gullwings.<p>

"Lady Yunaaa!" Clasko called as he run their way, followed by Buddy. „We've been worried about you. The Chocobos returned hours ago without you. They were very frightened. We thought-"

"We're alright." Paine interrupted him.

"Fiends cut off our way back." Rikku added "So we had to go a looong way round."

"I'm glad that you're unharmed." Buddy said while Rikku was looking around. After she had surveyed the farms whole forecourt with her eyes, she asked him: "By the way, where are Brother and Shinra?"

"They're waiting at the Celsius. Because we didn't know what happened to you, they went back in case you would call via the communicator."

"Well, we tried to…" Rikku answered as she took her communicator out of her pocket and showed it to him "But somehow these stupid things didn't work. I tried to fix mine, but that didn't work as well."

Thereupon Buddy folded his arms and cupped his chin in his one hand. "That's strange .Did they pack up simultaneously?"

Yuna nodded. "At least we think so."

"Hhmm…" Buddy brooded about that for a few seconds, but he didn't come to a result. So he asked: "And what about the little sphere?"

"We've got it back." Tidus answered.

„That's good news. Maybe we should go to the Celsius and tell Brother and Shinra." Buddy suggested.

"Considering that it's getting dark that would've also been my idea." Paine answered. It was obvious that the others also agreed to this plan and so they said goodbye to Clasko before going back to the Celsius. There they told Buddy, Brother and Shinra the whole story.

"And that's what Lian and Aid then showed us." Yuna said as she showed them the sphere-crystal. "It was glowing, like the little sphere."

Baffled, they stared at it for a few seconds silently. It was so quiet that Yuna could hear the others breathing. Then she continued:"Somehow it felt like the spheres were calling each other. So I took the little sphere and put it into the smaller hollow. For a few seconds the whole thing flashed." she paused a second before she continued in a low voice: "And then it stopped glowing."

"I see" Shinra said." It's possible that the cry you've heard came from the sphere. The two spheres must have interacted via sphere-waves, and that interaction also caused a cry-like sound."

Paine raised her eyebrows. "So you say the sphere also manipulated the communicator?"

He nodded. "That's possible. The communicators seem to be liable to something. Just think of Yuna's communicator when she was in the farplane. It didn't work there because something has blanked out the signal. The sphere could have sent out strong sphere-waves that destroyed the function of the communicator."

"That stands to reason." Rikku said as she held her head cocked to one side and rested it in her right hand. "After Clasco showed us the little sphere, we didn't use the communicators – until we wanted to call you. So they could have been defect all day long and we just hadn't noticed it."

"And when we met Lian and Aid, both - the sphere and the crystal - were in the bags." Yuna developed the thought further. "So we couldn't see if they have already glowed while we've been walking up the mountain to the Ronso."

"But there's still something strange about it." Paine remarked. "Shinra said that the sphere-waves destroyed or manipulated the communicators. As a result of that Yuna heard a whispering and then a cry when she listened to the communicator. But why could neither Rikku nor I hear something when we checked the communicators anew? And why could we only hear acoustic noise while Yuna heard a whispering and the cry? "

"Yeah," Rikku agreed, "that's right. How's that explainable?" she looked at Shinra, waiting for an answer.

Carefully he reconsidered his theory before he answered: "Maybe the communicator had to be close to the sphere. Let's think about it: Yuna had the sphere in her bag, ergo her communicator was very close to the sphere. And where were you two? "

„Three or four meters away from her." Rikku answered.

"And did you move into her direction shortly before you heard the acoustic noise?"

Rikku looked up at the ceiling, thinking for a second. Then she turned to Shinra anew. "Yeah, I walked around, but when I heard the noise, I was only one or two steps closer to Yuna than before."

"And I moved a little as well." Paine added.

"So you mean if Rikku and Paine had gone nearer to the sphere, they would have heard the whispering and cry as well?" Tidus asked Shinra, whereupon he nodded.

"That really figures." Buddy said.

Then Shinra looked at the sphere–crystal in Yunas hands. Like the others, he had no doubt that it was connected to the other spheres they had found so far. So he said: „ I guess if we wanna see something happening, we should check it's interaction with the other spheres."

Thereupon Yuna nodded and put the sphere-crystal on the table beside Shinra, next to the big, broken sphere. But nothing happened. So Shinra took the sphere-crystal and then the indigo sphere, which he put into the bigger hollow of the sphere-crystal. Immediately a small light appeared inside the sphere. After one or two seconds the light got brighter and radiated outwards to all sides rapidly, causing everyone to step back. Then the light dulled and, after it had gone out, the indigo sphere soared up. It was floating in the air a few centimeters above the sphere crystal, as the group looked at it eagerly. Finally it opened like a flower with five petals and revealed a smaller sphere that stuck in its middle. This smaller sphere glowed also indigo-blue and had the same size as the little crystal sphere.

"Amazing!", Shinra said astonished as he moved his head closer to the sphere "I've never seen something like that."

„This is so ….unbelievable!" Rikku uttered as everyone was still looking at the mysterious spheres in front of Shinra.

Meanwhile Tidus noticed something else from the corner of his eyes: it was a blue shine. Thereupon he immediately turned his head to the direction it came from and saw the half of the big sphere he had found in Zanarkand a few days ago. It was glowing weakly, but this time it was glowing indigo blue instead of light-blue.

"Everyone, look!" he said to the gullwings as he pointed at it. Their heads turned from Tidus to the broken sphere, and with every second its glowing became even brighter.

"Unbelievable." Brother said astonished in a low voice.

"It's the same as the little sphere and the sphere-crystal at mount Gagazet." Yuna noted. „It seems like they're calling each other. Shinra, can you put the little sphere into one of the little hollows?"

Shinra nodded. So he took the indigo-blue little sphere and put it to the big thing. As his hand with the little sphere was right above the big thing, he said: "The big thing seems to exert a weak pull on the little sphere. Somehow it is attracted by one of the outer hollows. I guess Yuna's right." So he yielded to the pull and put the little sphere into the hollow it was attracted by. Then both, the big thing and the little sphere, glowed indigo-blue. After a few seconds the little sphere stopped glowing, but the big thing continued, changing its color from indigo-blue to light blue. Finally it stopped glowing as well and seemed to be black again.

"Any attempt at an explanation?" Rikku asked to everybody around, but no one had an idea. While everybody was trying to find an explanation, Tidus took the thing and turned it to and fro. The others looked at him and the thing, still pondering. And then it happened: As in Zanarkand before, the thing sometimes gleamed at a move. But this time it gleamed with a hint of light blue, whereas back in Zanarkand it gleamed more with a hint of indigo blue. Immediately everyone looked eagerly at the thing.

"Ha! I knew it!" Tidus said elated and put it back on the desk.

"So there really is another sphere!" Yuna started "And I think its color is light blue. Just think." she looked to everybody around and continued her conclusion: "When we found the thing, it gleamed with a hint of indigo-blue. Then the Al-Bhed gave us this strange, indigo-blue sphere that showed some reaction to the big thing. And finally the indigo-blue sphere released the smaller one, and after putting it into the hollow, the big thing now gleams light blue. They're connected to each other, maybe even calling each other -" Yuna paused for a second to breathe.

"And thereby they show us what to do next." Paine finished the thought elated.

Yuna nodded "That's exactly what I thought."

"So let's go and find the other spheres!" Rikku said motivated.

"Right" Buddy remarked, "But how do we find them? If they had sent out sphere waves like all the other spheres, we would have found them via our sphere-wave-sensor, I guess."

"Err…" Rikku thought, „search whole Spira for them and hope to find one?" she proposed unseriously.

"Great idea. I wanna watch you doing that." Paine added in jest.

„I've got a better idea! " Shinra remarked. „I'm going to analyze the spheres. They must interact via some way and I'm sure they send out sphere waves. But maybe they transmit at another frequency, so our sphere-wave-sensor cannot detect them. Just gimme some time and I can tell you more."

"I guess we can't do anything else anyway." Paine remarked.

"Well, having a little break is a good idea." Yuna said as she yawned.

"That's right." Rikku agreed, "I need something to eat or else I'm starving." Just in that moment Tidus' stomach rumbled and caused Yuna to chuckle. "I guess you're not the only one who's starving Rikku. Let's go to Barkeep and ask him to cook something." she suggested.

After eating Yuna yawned again "What's the time anyway?"

"I can't exactly say, but it's none too late." Paine answered.

A little bit worried Tidus looked at Yuna, who seemed to be tired out. So he said to her: "You look like you desperately needed some rest, are you alright?"

"Yeah, but I could just go out like a light." she answered, "Maybe I should go off to bed and rest a bit. Would you give me a call if Shinra found out something?" she asked him as she stood up from chair.

"Yeah," he nodded as he looked her in the eye. "You really better lay down before you fall off the chair - and I have to pick you up."

„Hey", she said playfully as she gave him a gentle nudge on the shoulder. "That's mean."

"Maybe…" Tidus answered with a grin, "But it has proven successful."

"At least Yuni's wide awake again." Rikku remarked in his defense.

"Yeah-" Yuna laughed before she yawned again "but not for much longer. So good night then." she added tiredly and went upstairs. Tidus followed her with his eyes as she was doing so. Then he turned his head to the two other girls and slightly confused he asked: "Good night? Didn't she say she wanted to rest until Shinra has found out something?"

"I guess she's just realistic and knows that Shinra needs more than just one or two hours to come to a result." Paine remarked.

"Ok, so you say if Shinra says 'give me some time' it means 'give me one or two days'?"

"Yep!" Rikku nodded.

"And we can nothing do but wait." Paine added.

"Argh, I have feared so." Tidus said as he buried his head in his folded arms lying on the tabletop.

Meanwhile Yuna had lain down. It was amazing how Tidus could always manage to fill her with new energy, she thought. She didn't want to worry him more than he had already done, so she didn't say it – but if he hadn't made the cheeky remark, she really would've fallen down to the ground.

"I hate waiting too." Rikku answered Tidus as she jumped up from chair. "But don't despair, I've got an idea. You wanna learn how to play sphere break?"

"Sounds good!" he nodded.

"Right, so let's play a single-elimination-tournament. Or…..no, I've got a better idea. Let's play several rounds and the one who's got most points is the winner. If you win, you gain two points; if you lose, you get no point and if the game ends in a draw, you gain one point. And everyone has to play against everyone."

"Ok, but first I wanna have a try out." Tidus responded before he continued: "And then I'll beat you!"

"Dream on!" Rikku commented while the three were going to the table opposite to the bar, where they started playing.


	10. Chapter 10

Here's the next chapter. More words and thoughts of mine to this chapter see below. Enjoy reading!

When Yuna woke up it was already bright outside and so she sat up. Her eye fell at the empty bed next to hers, so she looked further around and saw Paine sleeping in the Bed next to the stairs. Wondering what time it was she stood up to look at the clock hanging at the wall above the bar, but then her attention was drawn to a snoring coming from below. Soft-footed she went past Paine and down the stairs, before she caught sight of the reason for the snorting: It was Tidus, sleeping with his forehead resting on the table surface. The rest of the table was covered by his extended arms and sphere-break coins lying all over the place. With a chuckle Yuna's sight wandered towards the chair on the other side of the table, opposite to Tidus. There was Rikku, nearly fallen off the chair and sleeping like a dog.

Now Yuna fought the urge to giggle before she walked towards Tidus and aimed to tap him on the shoulder. After all it was late enough to wake up. But then she decided to let him sleep instead and went towards the elevator. She assumed that Shinra hadn't found out very much so far but she couldn't just sit idly and wait. As she entered the bridge she found Shinra sitting at his workplace and tinkering with the sphere and some other thing. He looked tired and so it was apparent that he had worked right through. But still he worked very concentrated, thus it surprised Yuna that he must have recognized her without even looking at her direction as he said: "Morning Yuna. Wanna know how things are?"

Thereupon she nodded „Of course!"

"Come here, I'll show you something." As she went towards him, he took the flower-like sphere that had enclosed the little sphere until the day before and gave it to Yuna. „You have to go somewhere where it's dark. Then you'll see it".

Yuna nodded and then they went upstairs into the darkest corner of the corridor. There she could perceive a weak luminescence.

"At night, when it was really dark, I could see one petal gleaming brightly." Shinra explained. "Only the petal showing in that direction gleams. If you turn around, another petal, namely the one that shows in that direction then, starts gleaming and the other one stops gleaming. So I guess the one petal gleaming shows the direction where we can find the next hint."

"So you say it's kind of a compass?" Yuna asked as they went back to Shinra's desk.

"Exactly! The only problem is that the petals gleam only in the dark. So I'm trying to interlink it with the sphere Oscillo-finder in order to get the position of the next sphere or hint. But I guess that'll take some more time, so you can get back to the cabin if you want."

"Are you sure you don't need a break too?" she asked him worried.

"I'm fine. I couldn't sleep right now anyway."

"Well, if you say so. But let me know when you need some help."

After Shinra had nodded, Yuna headed back to the elevator. Just as the door opened she could hear a cry of joy: "Ha!" Shinra shouted with glee as he clapped his hands loudly. Thereupon Brother and Buddy, who seemed to have slept in their seats, jumped to their feet.

"Shinra, what the hell - !" Brother complained.

"Got it! I know how to interlink the sphere and the sphere-finder. Yuna, go and wake the others! I just need half an hour, and then I'll explain it to everyone."

Yuna nodded and went into the elevator. As the door opened at the cabin, she run out and called at the same time:" Hey everyone! Wake up!"

Paine seemed to have realized the reason for Yuna running around and calling and stood up. But Tidus and Rikku seemed to be still deep in sleep. So Yuna went towards them and clapped her hands right in front of them. "Hey!"

"Yuna!" Rikku and Tidus shouted out simultaneously as they awoke with a start. "Yuna, what's wrong?" Tidus asked worried.

„You didn't wake up straightaway." She answered with a grin on her face. Although she felt sorry for waking them up this way, she couldn't deny that she had also fun doing so.

"You're mean!" Rikku said drowsily as she sat up and looked at the table. As she saw the sphere-break coins spread all over the table she said to Tidus." By the way, what was the latest score?"

After that Tidus looked at the table as well, before he answered dozily:" I think I have won three times and you-"

"Wait, you haven't won three times. I have won three times and you were about to lose the game."

"No, I wasn't about to lose, I was –"

"Both of you were about to lose, cause I have won five times!" Paine barged in as she was walking down the stairs.

"Paine!" Rikku and Tidus shouted at her simultaneously. "There you are. Where have you been? We waited for you for ages." Rikku complained to Paine.

"I said I'm going to see if Shinra has found out something, and that's what I did. It's not my fault that you two were asleep when I came back. So I went to bed."

"That still doesn't …."

Yuna was still a bit confused, but she assumed that the tree of them played sphere break and Paine went having a look at Shinra. As it was her turn again, Rikku and Tidus waited for her – and by and by they fell asleep as Paine was still talking to Shinra. Then Yuna clapped her hands once more to attract their attention. "Shinra has found out something!" she said loudly.

"He has what?" Rikku asked alerted.

"He has found out something. He wants us to be at the bridge in a few minutes."

"Why didn't you say that right away?" Rikku replied. "Let's go!"

At the bridge Shinra told them the same he had told Yuna before and then he went towards the sphere-oscillo-finder. "It took a while, but finally I managed to format the sphere-finder so it interacts with the sphere." Then he took the flower-shaped sphere and put it on top of the sphere-oscillo-finder. After a few seconds it reacted with the sphere.

Buddy scrutinized it before he said: "There's a weak signal coming in. It appears that the signal comes from Macalania."

„Can you say exactly from where in Macalania it comes?" Paine asked.

"That's difficult to say" Buddy replied, „the signal is too weak, I'm not even 100% sure it really comes from Macalania. But after all I'd say it comes from close to the lake."

"Then let's have a look!"

"Ready when you are!" Rikku said motivated.

So Brother set them down at the entrance of Macalania wood near to the thunderplain. Due to Buddys suspicion they decided to go to the lake first, thus they took the short cut above the treetops. They went past Oaka's and stopped on the escarpment. Curiously Tidus looked around before he threw a glance at the hole itself. It was deep and he couldn't see the ground below, which was now hidden under a lake of meltwater. Then Yuna took the flower-shaped sphere and held it close to her body as she was also putting her hand in front of it to keep off as much light as possible. "It gleams very dimly and it hardly shows up. But unless I'm very much mistaken, we have to go in that direction." She said and pointed right towards the hole. Rikkus eyes fell from the escarpment over the hole towards the horizon. But the hole seemed to have no end and so the chance that there could be 'another side' seemed to be a slim one. "This cannot be good." she commented therefore.

"I suppose there's no way left that leads towards the other side?" Paine asked.

Yuna shook her head. „The only way I know about is the one who led across the frozen lake."

"Well, if there's no way yet, then we'll find one!" Tidus remarked full of zest for action and gave Yuna a smile.

Contagioned by his energy she said "All right, let's go!" before she smiled back at him.

After that the group went along the escarpment. Their plan was to walk round the hole, but as expected that was anything but easy. There were fiends everywhere and the ice below their feet was as smooth as glass. Matters were complicated by the fact that the terrain was declined to the hole – so every slipping could end up in falling into the hole.

"You know what still sets me wondering?" Yuna asked around while they were still walking. "I still wonder why the fiends wanted the little sphere so badly - and what the reflections portended."

"Something about it must have been very attracting to them." Paine responded. "Maybe it sent out some energy which they could feel. I'd also like to know where the Chocobo came from and how it gained the sphere. But I guess it won't be able to answer our questions."

"Hey girls," Tidus said, "what did you exactly see when the little sphere reflected something? Did you all see those lights?"

"I didn't see anything the first time Yuna saw them and I didn't see them the second time. But I saw the rainbow and the globe." Paine remarked.

"The first time I didn't see anything as well." Rikku said, "But the second time I saw something too. It looked like lights, but not like the ones Yuna described. To me they looked more like the lamps we used to have in home. What about you?"

"I'm not sure. Mainly I saw Yuna being reflected. But I think I also saw some lights like Yuna described them. But they were very faint, barely visible. That's why I'm not sure if I really saw them or if it was just my imagination."

"So what are you getting at?" Rikku asked curiously.

"What if everyone saw –"

"Ahhh!"

"Rikku!" the other three called out. Rikku had slipped on the ice and was about to slide down on an ice-chute that was leading down into the dark. Yuna stretched out her hand and grabbed Rikkus arm, but then she slipped too and was dragged down by Rikku.

"Yuna!" Tidus called out her name as he fell down to his knees and bended over the edge. But he couldn't look down to the ground, the hole was too deep and it was too dark in there.

In the meantime Rikku and Yuna had landed on the ground.

"Ouch!" Rikku said as she got up. "Hey Yuni, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Yuna nodded and looked around. There wasn't much light and it looked like they'd fallen onto the bottom of a ravine. To her left there was another precipice and below she could see meltwater passing through the ice. In front of her as well as behind her was a steep ice-face. To her right there was the steep ice-chute leading upwards along the ice-face. And between the ice-chute and the other steep face there was a passageway. Then she looked up towards the edge.

"Oh, this cannot be happening!" Rikku said as she was trying to climb up the ice-chute. But therefore it was too steep and slippery.

"Hey Rikku," Yuna said "can you see Tidus or Paine?"

To that Rikku stopped her failures to climb up and looked upwards as well. But she couldn't see anyone at this distance.

Suddenly a faint call resounded: "Yuna, Rikku!"

"Hey, that's Tidus." Yuna noted before she called back "Hey, can you hear me? We're alright!" Then she paused and looked around once more before she continued: "There seems to be a path leading into the same direction as the upper one. We go and check if there's a way upwards! Besides the sphere also points into that direction." After a few seconds of silence she heard Tidus answering "Ok!"

But just as Yuna was about to set off, she heard Tidus calling again: "Wait a sec!" Then she heard something coming sliding down.

Rikku listened closely: "Is that-?"

"I guess yes." Yuna answered perplexed. And then their suspicion proved to be right: it was Tidus.

Rikku was a bit puzzled and asked him "Why did you –"

But then she was interrupted as Paine was also slipping down to them.

"Paine. Is there - "

"A dead end!" Paine responded. „I was looking for a way going on, but I couldn't find one." Then she turned to Yuna "And then your boyfriend had the great idea of following you. He said something of an ongoing path and before I could say something he was gone. So I followed too." Then Paine looked at Tidus. "At least he's got a good idea of how to get back if here's a dead end too." Still a little bit confused, Yuna and Rikku looked at him as well and waited for an explanation.

"Nothing easier than that." He grinned. „If there's no other way leading upwards, we use some magic spells and melt a stairway into the ice!"

"Well, that stands to reason." Rikku agreed and set off. The path was gently inclining and led them deeper into the darkness. Of course that didn't facilitate walking, but at least the gleam of the sphere was clearly visible. While walking Paine turned to Yuna and whispered to her: „ I hope you know what you've got yourself. You should've seen him after you had slipped down. He was insufferable."

Yuna blushed at this but at the same time a pleased smile passed over her face. "I know."

„Well then…" Paine smiled back.

After a while it brightened as they draw nearer to a big ice cave. In fact it was more a big vertical tunnel bored into the ice and the surrounding rock than an ice cave. It was open towards the upper end and thus they could see the sky. Tidus looked upwards and then around. The tunnel was more than 100m in diameter and brightened towards the lower end, which was somewhere far below. Drops of meltwater were falling down upon the group and opposite the path was a roaring waterfall, transporting meltwater from the surface area down deeper into the precipice. On some ledges were wooden boards and items that seemed to be remains of the temple.

"So this is what happened to the temple?" he asked the girls.

"I guess so." Yuna responded „The temple is said to have sunken into the lake because the Fayth has disappeared."

"I guess _sunken_ isn't the right word for that." Paine said "Seeing this I'd say _crashed down_ is the better word."

"But if there's water down there the temple has crashed down and sunken!" Rikku commented, "I rather wonder how many pieces of the temple swim there."

"You'll see soon enough!" Paine remarked as she looked at the sphere in Yunas hands "After all it seems that we have to go down there."

The path they had walked on stopped there too, but further down seemed to be another path-like ledge. The spatial arrangement of single, small ledges made it possible to get there by jumping from one ledge to another. Having arrived on the path-like ledge, they could see a big lake far below. Down there seemed to be a broad tunnel in one side of the icy cave-wall, thus Yuna supposed that the lake was connected with the big lake in front of Oaka's. On the lake below were some ice floes and wooden boards floating around something that looked like the roof of the temple. The water was very clear and so they could see that it wasn't just the roof but probably the whole temple, that seemed to be still in one piece.

But there was no way to get there – except by jumping down. The path they were following led to a plateau in front of a cave. There was lake imbedded in the icy plateau, covering nearly its whole area. The lake reached from the outmost edge of the plateau to the inside of the cave. Around the lake was only a small ring of ice and the only thing preventing the lake-water from falling down to the big lake was a few centimeter broad icy edge. Having reached the plateau Yuna looked at the sphere again: It pointed right into the cave. The cave had a manageable size of about 70m in diameter and its whole floor area was occupied by the lake.

"Look! You think what I think?" Rikku said as she pointed to the middle of the lake inside the cave. Below the surface floated something that looked like a sphere, glowing light blue.

"The sphere!" Tidus remarked as they went to the entrance of the cave. After looking around the cave Paine said: "I guess one of us has to take a frosty ba-"

"What was that?" Yuna asked startled and interrupted her. The others turned their heads to her but neither they could see nor hear something. So Rikku asked: "What?"

"I could swear I heard a cracking just a moment ago."

"I didn't hear something but I guess that doesn't make it bette- ", another, this time clearly audible crack, interrupted Tidus. The crack was followed by a loud grumble and before they could do anything a big chunk of ice fell from the wall above and hit the edge of the ledge. It split off the thin icy edge that had prevented the lake-water from falling down, causing the lake to empty rapidly as a roaring waterfall developed. But the draining-off water also carried off the sphere. Tidus became aware of the fact that there was no chance of getting the sphere once it had fallen into the lake below. So he ran towards the lakeside and tried to grab the near bypassing sphere, but he was still too far away from it and the current was too strong to wade into the water. The sphere drifted rapidly towards the waterfall. Just as it was about to pass the edge Yuna got the helping idea and called: "Blizzaga!"

The waterfall froze immediately and prevented the enclosed sphere from falling down into the lake.

"Phew, that was close!" Tidus sighed with relief. Meanwhile Paine went towards the edge and looked up at the ice-wall. She assumed that the chunk of ice had come off the wall above and was deflected by another ledge before it hit this ledge. If it hadn't been deflected it would have fallen down perpendicularly – and might have hit the sphere hunters. But there seemed no other chunk to be following and so she went towards Rikku who was already picking out the sphere from the re-melting ice.

"Got it!" she said triumphantly as she picked it up. Then the sphere flashed and at the same time a deep growl shook the whole ice-canyon, which put the group on alert. It was echoed by the walls, making it hard to localize its original direction. The walls were shaking slightly and chunks of ice were breaking loose, falling down on subjacent ledges or into the lake below.

"It's high time to get away from here!" Paine said seriously but calmly. Nearly at the same time a big ice floe on the lake below flashed and started deforming: It took the shape of a bear. As it had finished the bear opened its eyes and fixed its gaze on the group.

"Now!" Paine called. But faster than they could blink the ice-bear had run upwards, standing between them and their way back. Left with no other option everyone drew one's weapon and prepared for fighting.

Tidus looked the bear up and down. It was ice-blue and its height at withers was about 1,5m. Its eyes were emerald and its look was piercing. Meanwhile Yuna followed its line of vision. "Rikku", she said "it wants the sphere!"

Then the ice-bear proceeded to attack. It ran towards Rikku and raised its paw ready to strike. Rikku dodged while the others attacked it simultaneously. But the bear had a hard shelter and so the attack didn't affect it particularly.

"Guess this is gonna take a while." Paine remarked.

This strike, however, had made the bear more furious and it prepared for the next attack. It opened its mouth and spitted freezing water, causing Yuna, Tidus and Paine to freeze on the ground. Rikku had leaped up into the air and avoided being frozen on the ground thereby. But as a consequence of the attack the already slippery ground became as smooth as glass and Rikku slipped and fell while landing.

"Rikku! " Yuna called as she tried in vain to remove the ice around her feet.

"I'm fine!" Rikku said as she stood up, but the bear was already preparing its next attack. Yuna shot at it to distract it from attacking Rikku, but it didn't care about her. Unaffected the bear went straight towards Rikku and attacked her, but she could dodge once again.

"Hey, if this bear is out of ice, then it should be vulnerable to fire-spells, shouldn't it?" Tidus said as he was picking his feet out of the ice.

"Yeah, that's right!" Yuna agreed before she cast a magic spell on the bear:"Firaga!" As a consequence the bear was given a jump and it turned around to Yuna. This allowed Rikku to change into the blackmage-custom and attack the bear with most vigorous black magic spells.

After Yuna had melted the ice around her, Tidus' and Paine's feet she attacked it with magic spells as well. As a result of the magic spells the bears shelter weakened and bit by bit even sword-strikes seemed to affect it effectively. But while its shelter was weakening, its power grew stronger. Suddenly it attacked them again with freezing water. This time it hit everyone and due to its strengthened power, each one was frozen up to hip.

"It starts panicking!" Paine noted. "I guess we'll have finished it soon."

After removing the ice once again the four sphere-hunters attacked the bear one after another, giving it barely a chance to attack. From then on it didn't take long until the bear was beat. Finally it disappeared into pyreflies. As before with the dragon in Kilika the pyreflies gathered and danced in a circle. Again one of them left the circle and vanished into the sphere before the remaining ones scattered in all directions. As Rikku was looking at the sphere she concluded: "This seems to be kind of a ritual."

"And therefore the dragon and the bear appeared. First we had to beat them before one pyreflie per sphere went into it and activated it." Paine remarked.

"I agree. It seems that they're kind of a guardian." Tidus said. Inwardly Yuna winced at this before she looked at him and said: „Guardians of the spheres, that's really possible" then she looked to Rikku and Paine as she continued: "the moment Rikku took the sphere it flashed - and right after that the bear appeared. "

Paine nodded. "I remember the indigo-blue sphere in Kilika flashed as well before the dragon appeared, I guess you're right. So we better prepare ourselves for more fights when we look for the other spheres."

Then Paine looked at the sphere before she said: "Let's go back and tell the others!"

Tidus, Yuna and Rikku nodded and so the four of them started on their way back.

So, this was chapter 10. Maybe I should say some more words to how I imagine the Macalania-landscape and the lake:

In FFX - as we all know - the surface of the lake is frozen. And we also know that the party falls down to the "ground" after fleeing out of the temple. And they can walk and breathe there, which means that between this ground and the frozen surface must be a big air-filled cavity.

So I guess that the original lake froze (respectively its surface froze) and then the still fluid water beneath this frozen surface went down, leaving a big cavity. After all it must have some connection to the sea, just remember that SIN came there and took the party to Bikanel. Well, the ground they had fallen onto could be either the right ground or just another frozen surface. Unfortunately I cannot remember anymore if there was anything explained about that in FFX. I guess I should play FFX once more =)

What I want to say is that when the ice started melting, the surface of the lake fell down (which we all can see in FFX-2 ;) ). But what happened to the rest of the frozen landscape? It's also melting and I think the whole area – the rocks, the ground etc. - was mainly built out of ice, like a big glacier or something like that. So all this is melting too. The meltwater is boring holes and tunnels into the ice while it's flowing down to the ground. And on the ground there's a lake, of course.

Another point is, that is seems to me that the temple in FFX hangs in a big ice-cave. So when the ice started melting, the temple didn't just 'sink' but rather fall down into the lake.

Well, I hope I haven't confused you more than you've already been…

( maybe I should just draw a picture of how I imagine the landscape then. But I can't draw such things…but if you're really confused let me know – I will try my best then… )

Well then, same as always: let me know if there's anything you don't understand, you don't like or what you like, while I'm still trying to increase my writing-speed.

So until the next chapter then,


	11. Chapter 11

So, here's chapter 11. Maybe it's a little bit sentimental, but see it for yourself ;)

By the way, I want to thank all of you for the reviews as well as reading the story so far.

Until the next chapter then

After passing Oaka's Yuna stopped and turned to Rikku and Paine. „We'd like to take a walk and go the long way through the woods. I hope you don't mind."

Paine was a bit worried about Yuna since she had seemed to be a bit tired after the fight. But just as she wanted to ask Yuna, Rikku said quickly like a shot: "Of course we don't mind. We go back to the airship and wait for you there. Just enjoy the beauty of Macalania woods as long as it's still there."

"Right." Yuna replied with a sad undertone in her voice. It was hard for her to believe that this wood and all its magic would be gone forever soon. She couldn't imagine what would be at this place once the woods had vanished. While Rikku and Paine took the short way, Yuna and Tidus went the other way. Hand in hand they strolled along the path and enjoyed the remaining beauty of this enchanted forest. The emptiness of the wood set Tidus thinking and also a bit wistful.

"It's incredible how things can change - and what's more, how fast they can change." He said.

"This thought has been on my mind for a while." Yuna replied. "Time goes by, and things change with its passage. People, places, things - everything changes. Sometimes it takes only a short time, and sometimes it takes ages. But nothing stays the same. And every now and then things change without us noticing it. But then, when we look back, we notice that things have changed a lot.

"Yeah, that's right." He said with a low voice. Spira had changed a lot - of course - but not only Spira. He had changed as well, during Yunas Pilgramage - and possibly even while he was in the farplane.

Then they reached the end of the way. Due to the still thick forest canopy and the time of day it was already getting dark in the forest. Yuna looked around, but the forest seemed to be still empty and abandoned. Not even beings that would get active at twilight seemed to be here any longer. It was just an empty they went for the wood's edge as Tidus turned around suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked him.

"Somehow I can't escape the feeling that someone or something is watching us." Yuna looked around once more, but the forest seemend to be as empty as two minutes a squirrel-like being jumped down from one of the trees onto Yunas shoulders. Thereupon she jumped with fright but as fast as it had appeared it jumped on the ground and ran away.

"You're ok?" Tidus asked as he couldn't help laughing at this funny sight.

"Yeah, but it gave me a pretty scare." She replied with a laugh as she put her right hand in front of her heart. Suddenly she stopped, then started to feel for something on her neck before she said: "My necklace. It's missing." She looked at the ground and searched it with her eyes, but the necklace wasn't there.

Tidus looked in the direction the squirrel-like being had run and asked: "Do you think the squirrel has stolen it?"

"I don't know, but that's possible. I think I still had the necklace when we were strolling along the path."

"It went in that direction!" he said and showed in the direction of Bevelle and the calm lands. So they followed the squirrel and as they reached the crossroad they saw it again – with Yunas necklace. But as it saw them as well, it ran away along the way towards the spring. They followed and looked for it, but at the spring they couldn't see it anymore. Then Yunas eyes fell to the ground in front of the spring. "There it is!" she said. The necklace was lying on the ground, so she went there to pick it up while Tidus was still looking around and lagged behind therefore. As Yuna straightened up her eyes fell from the necklace to the spring. What she saw then cut her to the quick. The waterlevel had fallen remarkably compared to the last time Yuna was there. And the tree in the middle seemed to be sick as well. Sadly she let her arms fall and said: "It's fading – just like the rest oft he woods."

At that Tidus gave up looking for the squirrel and turned to her again. As he saw her standing there he looked at the spring as well and drew closer to her. When he was close beside her, he put his arm around her. Then the two of them stared at the spring for a few seconds.

"I don't want this wood to fade away." Yuna said softly, "It's full of memories – bad memories, sad memories, and one of my fondest memories. Sometimes I'd like to blow out the bad ones…but that only calls them back to my mind even more. And although this may sound a bit strange, yet I don't want to miss a single one of them. After all the past events have made me the person I am now. However, I feared that with every piece of this wood fading, a part of me would fade away as well." Then she glanced at the necklace in her hand before she looked at the tree in the middle of the spring once more. "But now I'm not afraid anymore – " She faced him, whereupon he returned the look, " - not as long as you're with me."

Then she turned around so that she could embrace him - and rested her head on his chest as she closed her eyes.

"Yuna." He said in a very low voice as he put his other arm around her. Then he placed his chin on her head and closed his eyes as well. So they remained for a while and savoured the moment.

As Tidus opened his eyes again the spring attracted his attention once more. "Yuna!" he said softly as he taped her on the shoulder. To that Yuna raised her head and looked at him before she followed his line of vision. For a second or two, the tree in the middle shone brightely. Immediately Yuna let go of Tidus and turned around to view it better. Right after that something fell down from the tree crown. It fell into the water and floated towards them. As it reached the bank, Tidus went for it and picked it up.

„A sphere!", he commented and handed it to Yuna.

After having a look at it she said: „It looks like a memory-sphere. Could it be …" she looked at the spring and then back to Tidus "… there's still some magic left here in this place." she said fascinated. But it wasn't just an empty memory-sphere - it was their memory-sphere.

"This place amazes me time and time again!" she remarked.

Since it was darkening more and more they decided to go back to the airship. On the way they saw a luminous something that looked like a big pireflie or something similar. It was floating in the air, not chancing its position. As they got nearer to it they saw that it was as big as a pyreflie and that it was glowing red – and burning. It looked and floated like a pyreflie, but muchmore it seemed to be a little fireball. Then it floated right in front of Tidus, but against his expectations it didn't radiate heat.

"What's that? Has something like that been her ever before?" he asked Yuna.

"I don't think so. I've never seen something like that before as well."

As it was still floating in front of his eyes he tried to touch it. But before he could do so, it vanished and re-appeared a few meteres away from them. Curiously they approached it and looked at it.

"A floating fireball that doesn't radiate heat." Tidus said as he kept a wary eye on it.

"Somehow it looks like kind of a pyreflie." Yuna said astonished. "But a strange one. I've never seen a pyreflie that looked like it was burning – not in this way."

Suddenly it disappeared again. At that she said: "No, that's definetly no ordinary pyreflie."

For a while they looked around for it, but it was nowhere to be seen. So they decided to go back to the airship and tell the others about that.

"Hey!" Rikku greeted the two of them as they entered the bridge. The others were gathered around the big sphere. "You come just in time. We've waited for you two for hours, but finally we couldn't wait any longer." "That's ok." Yuna answered. "Actually we wanted to come back earlier, but we were held up."

"Eh?" Rikku stopped short.

"Is there any news about the sphere?" Yuna continued.

"We put the sphere into the hole of the sphere-crystal." Shinra replied. "And like the last time, it opened like a flower and released a smaller sphere. Here!" he opened his hand and showed it to Yuna and Tidus. It was light-blue, of course. "We were just about to put it into the hole of the big thing."

To that Yuna and Tidus nodded and Shinra proceeded. The big thing exerted a pull on the small sphere, thus it was pulled into the hollow next to the indigo-blue sphere. Then the small, light-blue sphere and the big thing glowed light-blue, before the color of the big thing changed into a green. After that it was black again.

"So we look for a green sphere next." Paine commented.

"Yeah." Yuna nodded, "And I'm sure we'll find it in Besaid."

Her hypothesis seemed to prove true since Buddy got a weak signal from the area around Besaid.

"So, let's go to Besaid." Paine said.

"Right" Yuna agreed, "But there's something I wanna tell you first." After everyone had turned to her she told them about the strange pyreflie in Macalania woods. And because everyone wanted to see it with their own eyes, Yuna and Tidus took them to the spot where they had seen it. They hoped it would be back – but it wasn't. Meanwhile it was late in the evening and they decided to go back to the airship and stay the night there.

But Yuna could sleep only hardly. She couldn't stop thinking about the strange pyreflie and so she put on her boots to go and get some fresh air.

"Yuna?" she turned around. It was Tidus. "What are you doing?" he said softly, still being sleepy.

"I cannot sleep, so I thought I getting some fresh air might be helpful. I'm sorry to have woken you." She answered in a low voice.

"In the middle of the night? Wait for me." He stood up and went towards her. He knew she wouldn't just go outside for a few minutes - no, she was about to go back into the forest and look for the pyreflie-like thing.

After they had left the cabin and went towards the woods she said to him:"This thing gives me no peace - there have been happening too many strange things in the past few weeks to be unconcerned about it." She looked at the night sky - it was full of sparkling stars. "First it occured to me, that it might be just a normal pyreflie that has taken the shape of a fireball. After all, pyreflies are known for taking the shape of someone or something. But I don't know if they can even take the shape of an element – a pure element that's got no living part." Then she stopped and looked at the forest edge they were heading to "Or maybe it's a kind of pyreflie that's never seen before – or something total different." she said softening, "Spira is still full of mysteries."

Meanwhile they had reached the forest. It hadn't changed much over the night - it seemed to be as abandoned as before. But suddenly there appeared a reddish glow behind a tree.

"Yuna, there!" Tidus said softly as he pointed towards the tree.

„It's really there!" she said in amazement. Then she went towards the tree and the thing as she looked at it again. It stayed on this spot and altered its position only vertically, stopping at Yunas eye height. Still it looked like a floating fireball, producing sparks that soared into the air. Then Yuna reached out her hands and placed them to both sides of it, as if she wanted to clutch it. As Tidus had said previously, it didn't radiate heat. But this time it didn't disappear, instead it started to float around. Thereby it didn't leave a trace of light like the pyreflies did, but it left a trace of little flames that disappeared after a few seconds.

"Amazing!" Yuna said as she followed it with her eyes. It flew over her head and around Tidus, before it encircled both of them. Then it stopped and paused on this spot. After a few seconds it started again and floated back and forth along the way. The two of them followed it with their eyes. Suddenly a male voice sounded from the pyreflie-like thing: "_Some people told me that there have been happening strange things for a few days._"

"Huh?" Yuna startled and completely stunned she turned to Tidus: "Was that real or was that just my imagination?"

He shook his head in disbelief. „No, I've heard it too."

Meanwhile the thing floated past them another time „_They blame you for that_."

"What- what does that mean?" Yuna asked the thing. But it didn't react in any way, it just kept on floating. Then it encircled them once more before it floated away.

"Hey, wait!" Yuna called out to it, but still it didn't show any reaction. It floated around some trees and then returned a little bit just to vanish in front of their eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi there,**

**Here is chapter 12. I hope you all had a good start into the New Year.**

**Enjoy reading and please review!**

P.S. Chapter 13 is on its way. Hopefully I can finish it in the next two weeks ;)

* * *

><p>The strange pyrefly hadn't returned and since day was already dawning, they had gone back to the Celsius.<p>

There they told everyone the news about the fireball as the airship was flying to Besaid. When they had done so, Shinra started pondering over it and after a short time he said: "Although this thing was really strange, I subscribe to Yunas theory that it was kind of a pyrefly. There are many mysteries of unknown extent inherent in these little fellows. So why shouldn't some of them be able to take the shape of an element? But that's still to be scrutinized, so excuse me for now. I have to go back to work! Maybe I can find out something more about them." having said that, Shinra went for his workplace and threw himself into his work while the others could nothing do but wait.

Right after landing in Besaid Yuna, Tidus, Paine and Rikku found Wakka and the Aurochs doing some exercises to keep fit. As Wakka saw Yuna and Tidus, he waved and went towards them.

"Hey, you two! Already back? I hope ya enjoyed the trip." Then he turned to the rest of the gullwings, "Wass up?"

"Hi Wakka!" Yuna replied, "Things have turned out different than planned. And that's why we're already back. We're looking for a sphere."

"A sphere? I thought you wanted to live a quite life, and now you've taken away my new Blitzball player to turn him into a sphere-hunter?" Wakka joked. But then he asked curiously "What kind of sphere?", Thereupon they told him the whole story in short.

"I see," he said concerned thereafter, "I think there's something ya should know. Let's go into the village to Lulu."

"Has something happened?" Yuna asked worried.

"Na, or maybe … it has. But let that better Lulu tell ya." Wakka replied as they went into the village. "I cannot even say wether it is something to be worried about or not."

When they entered the village, they saw Lulu standing in front of Wakkas hut, holding Vidina in her arms and talking to a villager. But as she saw them she said bye to the villager and went towards them.

"I see you have brought visitors with you." She said to Wakka before she turned to Tidus and the gullwings and gave them a warm welcome.

As they told her the reason for their visit, Lulu suggested going into the hut where she wanted to hear the whole story. Thereafter she said seriously: "I understand. So you should know that there have been happening one or two strange things here as well for the last few days."

Both, Yuna and Tidus, winced at Lulus words. She had said nearly the same words the pyrefly-like thing had said in the morning. But Lulu didn't notice it and so she continued:"When Vidina woke me up this morning, I saw the glimmer of a bluish light through the curtain and went outside to look where it came from. There I saw a blue-glowing ball floating in the air, in front of the hut. As I got closer I saw that it was water - floating in the air with the shape of a ball. It looked almost like a miniature-sphere pool. Suddenly it moved and the water started flowing down to the ground, like a waterfall. But neither did the volume of water inside the ball run low, nor did the ground get wet."

Then she paused and handed Vidina to Wakka before she continued "First I thought it was a spherimorph, but it wasn't. After all I think it was the same as the thing that you saw this morning - just that it was water-elemental instead of fire-elemental. Well, be that as it may, the thing floated across the campfire-site past the neighbor-hut. At the same time I heard a female voice sounding from the thing. It said '_If I had only the key…I could make this dream come true_'. And thereafter it floated past the temple to vanish somewhere behind it. "

Everyone was irritated at this, especially Yuna as well as Tidus. And while everyone was silent, Yuna started questioning herself. What did all that mean? What were those elemental pyreflies? What was the meaning of their words? And why did they appear right then, why not before? Could it mean that - she looked at Tidus who gave her a questioning look as well right in that moment. So she guessed that he was thinking the same.

Then Paine broke the silence as she asked Lulu and Wakka: "Has someone else seen some strange things as well or have you been the only one so far?"

"Nothing strange like that, but yet peculiar." Wakka responded, "The fisherman has told me, that the coral reefs have changed over the last few weeks. Seems like some parts of them are dying. But at the same time other parts luminesce at night - and the next day some of them have sprouted, he said. But that was it."

"Don't forget the weaver. He saw a green glow in the water beneath the cliff when he was on his way back from the beach one night." Lulu added.

"Yeah,right!" Wakka agreed and turned to Yuna, "Could be the thing you suspect to be the sphere, right?"

"I guess so." Yuna answered baffled. "Right, the sphere. That's why we've come."

"So I suggest that we better go and look for it before the day is over." Tidus stated.

Yuna nodded and so they went out of the village, upwards the hill and from there down to the lakeshore. Then they swam towards the area where Yuna had seen the green glow a few days ago. As expected, the flower-shaped sphere led them there as well.

When they reached the cliff, Yuna looked around and thought about where exactly she had seen the thing. Then she said "It was here." as she searched the ground with her eyes. But she couldn't see something like a sphere, so she dived under for a few seconds. "I'm sure it was here, but it's still lacking."

"It was definitively here!" Tidus confirmed "I remember the under-water landscape. But I can't see it as well – just as last time."

"Maybe it's drifted away." Paine said, trying to explain the problem before she looked at the flower-shaped sphere. "The sphere directs us further into that direction."

So they followed the sphere until all petals gleamed simultaneously. The lake was very deep there and below the sphere hunters were large building-ruins. All this made it impossible to see a gleaming sphere from the surface.

"Must be somewhere in a ruin." Rikku commented.

"I think so." Paine answered.

Since all petals of the flower-shaped sphere gleamed simultaneously within a radius of about 20m, Paine suggested: "Let's split up. Rikku and I search this half of the circle and you two the other half - But be prepared for a fight."

"OK!" Yuna and Tidus agreed and so they dived under. First they dived down to the ground before they searched every ruin systematically. But they couldn't find anything that looked like a sphere. Just as they were about to search the last ruin, Paine and Rikku approached them. Rikku held a green gleaming sphere in her hands and pointed towards the water surface.

After coming up Yuna took a deep breath. "You have found it. That's the sphere I saw some days ago, I'm sure of it."

"It was in the big ruin over there!" Rikku answered as she pointed to a ruin. "As I detected it, a piranha was just about to eat it! Luckily we could save the sphere just in time."

"Was it a normal piranha?" Tidus asked.

"Yeah." Paine responded. "I don't think that it was the sphere's guardian. So we should better keep on being alerted."

But as they swam back towards the lakeshore, no fiend or something that could be a guardian of the sphere appeared. So they went up the hill and down to the village. In front of the village Yuna stopped.

"Hey, can you wait a sec?"

Thereupon the others stopped as well and Yuna continued: "Don't you think it's strange that there hasn't appeared a guardian until now? Let's wait outside the village for a while. I don't want people in the village being concerned or even hurt when it finally appears to take the sphere."

"You're right!" Tidus remarked, "You think it's better to go to the beach? At least there we're as far from the village as possible."

At that Yuna nodded. "Yeah, I think that's best."

So they turned around and started on their way back, but when Lulu came towards them they stopped again.

"Yuna, have you found what you were looking for?"

"Hi Lulu. Yes, we have. But something's strange about it. The last two times a powerful fiend appeared after we had got the sphere. But this time it hasn't appeared yet." Yuna said and looked at the village once more. "I don't want the village to be in danger, so we take the sphere and go to the beach. There's enough space for fighting a fiend."  
>"I see! Are you sure you have to fight a fiend so that the sphere opens?"<p>

"At least that's our conclusively justified hypothesis." Rikku replied as she thought about it. "But maybe we should check wether it works without having fought a guardian. C'mon Paine, let's go to the airship." Paine nodded thereupon and together with Rikku she went to the airship, while Yuna and Tidus stayed with Lulu.

"So, how are you two doing?" Lulu asked Yuna and Tidus.

With some surprise they turned to Lulu before Yuna answered quickly "We're fine, thanks."

Then Lulu looked at Tidus. As he realized what she was getting at he responded "Never felt better. I'm alive and well."

"Well, that's nice to hear." Lulu smiled.

When Rikku and Paine returned they looked disappointed and Rikku shook her head while they were approaching them.

"Oh no, it didn't work." Yuna stated disillusioned.

"So, let's think it over again." Lulu said calmly, "What did you do the last two times before the guardian appeared?"

"Nothing, at least nothing I'm aware of. We took the sphere and then the fiend appeared."

"Ok, that doesn't get us any further. Let's start it differently. Can you tell me what happened before the bear appeared? From the moment you have defeated the water-dragon until the bear appeared – in detail."

At that Yuna nodded and so she and Tidus told Lulu they everything they could remember. "Then I froze the water to prevent the sphere from falling down. And while Rikku was picking it out of the ice, it flashed - and at the same time the ice below transformed into a bear."

"I see." Lulu said, "So let me sum up: You cast an ice-spell on the sphere and only then an ice-bear appeared."

"Right." Yuna nodded.

"And what did you do when the water dragon appeared? Did someone or something cast a magic spell on the sphere before the dragon appeared? Maybe something like _'water'_?"

"No, I don't think so – but wait: The Al-Bhed have got it out of the water - and when we were in Kilika, the water dragon appeared. I cannot say if they cast a spell on the sphere, but I don't think so. But could it be possible that the contact with water was enough for the dragon to appear?"

"Maybe; at least that's my theory. You said that the dragon couldn't get near to the shore – and the sphere has been onshore since the Al-Bhed have taken it. So what if the dragon was already summoned – and it was looking for the sphere and a chance to get it."

This made sense to Yuna as well as to Rikku, Paine and Tidus.

"So you're saying that we have to cast a magic spell on the sphere and then its guardian appears?" Tidus asked Lulu, whereupon she nodded.

"Hey, you're a genius! Thank you Lulu." Rikku said as she jumped for joy. "But…how do we know which spell we have to cast on the sphere? I don't want to try all possible spells out."

Lulu gave it a moment's thought, before she replied. "As long as you don't know of anything that indicates the right spell – there's no other choice. But let us mull over it once more."

"Maybe the color gives us a hint." Paine suggested, "The light-blue sphere was associated with ice and the indigo-blue sphere with water. So, is there a magic spell that goes with green?"

"Hm, that's hard to say. Maybe you could try it with _'Bio'_ or '_Gravity_', but there's no magic spell associated with green such as _'water'_ with blue."

"Ok, let us try spells out after all." Rikku said deflated as she was about to leave for the beach.

"Wait." Lulu said as she cast a glance at the village, "I go with you. It's Wakkas turn now to look after Vidina."

And so the five of them went up the hill. Since there seemed to be some people down at the beach, they decided to stay there and started trying some spells out. But as Lulu had assumed, there was no spell that summoned the guardian of the sphere. A bit exhausted Yuna sat down on the ground "That was the last magic spell."

For a second, Tidus thought about something before he remarked: "Maybe we need to do something else. Or are there some more magic spells – maybe even associated with green - we haven't thought of?"

"There's no spell of which I know." Lulu replied when suddenly a thought flashed through her mind, "But there might exist one. I remember that when I was taught black magic, my teacher said something about ancient spells. There must be still some information in the temple about them. Follow me!"

Immediately they went into the temple and searched every part of it for an old writing. Finally Lulu found an old, dusted chest, which contained some old writings. On one of them were some magic spells listed, together with instructions of how to perform them.

"Here!" Lulu pointed at the writing "There's a spell called _'Entwine'_. It's said to cause a climbing plant sprout out of the ground and entwine the enemy. I guess there's nothing more obviously associated with green than a plant."

"I think so too. So let's go outside and cast it on the sphere!" Rikku said motivated.

"I'm afraid this is not so easy." Yuna remarked as she looked at the writing. "Below is written that these spells can only be performed by a very well skilled black mage. I don't know if the black magic we are master of, suffices for that."

"Don't forget that you have an experienced black mage standing right beside you." Lulu said, "I can perform it. So let's go!"

Yuna had some concerns about that. She didn't doubt that Lulu could perform the spell, but she didn't want her to be embroiled in a fight with a strong fiend. After all she had an obligation to Vidina as a mother. But Lulu was determined to cast this spell on the sphere, and there was no chance to prevent her from doing that. So they went up the hill once more and put the sphere down on the ground. As Lulu cast _'Entwine'_ on the sphere, a climbing plant sprouted out of the ground and entwined the sphere. After the plant had regressed, some bushes beside them started to rustle.

First a set of antlers stuck out of the bushes before a huge cervine fiend followed. It had the height and the head of a moose and the smarter appearance of a red deer. But it had no coat; instead its body was covered by widely ramified tree branches. The branches lay crisscross on top of one another and enwrapped its whole body. Its tremendous pair of antlers had an intermediate form of that of a red deer and a caribou. The antlers were sparkling and razor-sharp, only made for fighting. Additionally there were long and acuminate branch-endings at every joint of its legs, ready to spear everything that got in its way.

The cervids eyes were blazing and focused on the sphere that still lay in front of Lulu on the ground. Then it raised its eyes to Lulu and the other four and run straight up to them. Just before hitting them it slowed down and turned around, walking back towards the sphere.

"Guess this is the guardian!" Rikku said, "Now let's get the sphere!"

After she had said that, the cervid turned to the five of them once more, but this time it wasn't just a feint attack and they had to dodge.

"Seems it doesn't like your plan!" Tidus remarked as he drew his sword and attacked it. The fight was a strenuous one, but due to Lulus help the cervid was clearly inferior. With her powerful fire elemental spells she affected it badly and soon it was defeated. Then the same ritual as the two times before took place: the guardian disappeared into pyreflies that started dancing in a circle. Afterwards one of them left the circle and went into the sphere before the remaining pyreflies scattered in all directions.

"So this is the ritual you've told of. It's truly awesome." Lulu said to Yuna while Paine went for the sphere."And now you go back to the airship to open the sphere?"

Yuna nodded. "I guess so."

"Wanna come with us and see it with your own eyes?" Rikku asked Lulu.

"Yeah, after all it's mostly thanks to you that we defeated the guardian so easily." Tidus added.

"Well, why not." Lulu replied. "I guess I still have some minutes to spare before I must go back and look after Vidina and Wakka."

At the airship they met Brother and Buddy getting some fresh air. Shinra was still inside and tried to figure out something more about the elemental-pyreflies. When they entered the bridge, he interrupted his research and put the sphere into the bigger hollow of the crystal-sphere. As expected the big sphere opened like a flower and released the smaller sphere. After he had put it into the big thing and both started glowing, the color of the big one changed to yellow before it turned black again. But this time neither a petal of the flower-shaped sphere glowed nor did the Oscillo-finder get a signal from the next sphere.

"Now this is strange." Shinra remarked, but had an answer pat: "Maybe the sphere is too far away for the Oscillo-finder to get a signal. I'll try to adapt it. Maybe you could check if the flower-shaped sphere shows any reaction outside."

"Uh-huh!" Rikku agreed and took it outside. But no matter where she went, there was no glowing visible. "I guess Shinra is right and the sphere is too far away." She said disappointed.

"Maybe the glow is just not bright enough to see it at daytime. We should wait until night falls and hope that we can see it then." Yuna suggested.

"So why don't you stay the night in Besaid then?" Lulu suggested, "Wakka and all the others would be pleased to see you again."

"Thanks Lulu, I guess that's what we'll do." Rikku replied, "Maybe even the elemental pyrefly returns and we can see it with our own eyes."

"Well, that could be possible."


	13. Chapter 13 A dream faces reality

Hi everyone,

Here's chapter 13. It's one of the most important chapters. So I don't want to keep you on tenterhooks any longer.

Enjoy reading and please review.

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><p>As it got dark, Rikku, Yuna, Tidus, Lulu and Wakka went towards the forecourt of the temple. There Rikku took the flower-shaped sphere out of her pocket, but still none of its petals glowed.<p>

"That just can't be true!" Yuna said disappointed before she asked Rikku to hand the sphere to her.

Rikku nodded and gave it to Yuna, who started walking around with the sphere in her hands. She walked up and down the village and around the temple, but it just didn't glow. So she went back to the others who were waiting in front of the temple. There Yuna sat down as she was tired out. Right in that moment Paine returned from the airship to tell them the current state of affairs from Shinra.

"Shinra hasn't found out something more so far. Now he has even recruited Buddy and Brother for helping him to adapt the Oscillo-finder. So he asked us to keep watch and see whether the elemental pyrefly returns."

"Got it!" Rikku answered, "We can't do anything else anyway since the sphere doesn't glow."

Paine looked at the sphere in Yunas hands and responded to Rikku: "Well, sleeping could be a reasonable alternative."

Thereupon Tidus looked at Yuna once more. It was obvious that she needed some rest after all. So he said to her: "I guess you better go and get some sleep! It doesn't make a difference whether three, four or five keep watch. "

Seeing that she was dog tired and that she wouldn't be very helpful, Yuna agreed – albeit reluctantly. After she had gone into her hut, Paine and Rikku turned to Tidus who seemed to be very worried about her.

"Hey," Rikku said to him, "What's going on with her? Has she said anything about that to you at some point?"

"No, she hasn't." he said anxiously as he shook his head.

Wakka and Lulu, who had followed their conversation, were worried as well and finally Wakka asked concerned: "What do ya mean? What's wrong with Yuna?"

"Something's strange about her." Paine remarked, "It's not like her to be tired out like this after such a day. Of course she hasn't slept much last night, but it's not only today that she's been so tired. I remember her being dog-tired after a day like the one at Mt. Gagazet. A few weeks ago she was much fitter after a comparable exhausting day. Anyway, the last few days I had the feeling that she was bushed all over the day. First I haven't thought anything of it, but now it worries me increasingly."

"There you're right." Lulu remarked, "I've known her for long enough to say that there is something wrong with her. And I've known her for long enough to say that it might be worse than it seems."

„Yeah," Rikku added, "If one only sees her as she is now, there's nothing that causes one to worry about her. But as Paine said, compared to how fit she was after such a day a few weeks ago, there's good reason to be worried about her. I hoped that she had said something to Tidus - after all she tells you more than anyone else." Rikku said as she turned to him.

Then Lulu looked towards the hut once more before she said: "But that's just like her. She's learned to hide her problems very well in order to worry no one. And thereby she manages to control her mind as well as her body very well. It's hard to guess the state of her health by looking at her."

"I know." Rikku remarked, "She still hasn't really learned to say what's wrong with her - at least as long as she thinks that it's not important enough."

Tidus was really worried about Yuna. He wanted to hope that it had a trivial reason, but he couldn't. When Paine had said that Yuna was much fitter a few weeks ago, it also meant that she was much fitter before his return and the occurrence of the spheres. So was it possible that it could have something to do with that? Concerned Tidus asked Rikku and Paine: "Do you think it could be related to –"

"You mean to the spheres?" Rikku stated,"I don't know, but it could be possible."

"Maybe it's better you go and look after her." Paine suggested, "As long as we don't know what's wrong with her and how bad it really is, we shouldn't leave her alone."

Then Pain looked at Rikku. "Two are enough to keep the first watch. And afterwards Buddy and Brother take over from us." She said to Tidus. He agreed thereupon and started for the hut.

"Tidus!" Lulu said right in that moment, whereat he turned around again. "Keep an eye on her!" Typical of Lulu it sounded like a command, but he could also pick out a plea. So he assured her "I will!" before he went towards the hut as well.

Inside he found Yuna lying on the sleeping mat – staring to the wall on the opposite side and pondering over something.

"Hey," he said softly as he sat down beside her, "We're all worried about you. Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"If I'd only knew… But I don't understand what's happening. I don't know anything." Yuna said in low voice, still seeming to be paralyzed and staring at the wall. Thereupon he put a hand on her shoulder, took a deep breath and remained silent. After what felt like an eternity of silence Yuna finally caught hold of his hand that lay on her shoulder. Still she kept on staring as she said: "What if the words the elemental-pyreflies have said are meant for us? When it is our fault that all these strange things happen? And what if … this is just the beginning and things get even worse?" After a short pause she added: "Maybe we should stop hunting the strange spheres - at least for a while."

"Yeah, I guess we should do that." He replied as he started stroking her hair, "It can't go on like that!" Low-voiced he added: "And hopefully ... this will have an effect on the strange happenings."

"I don't know, but I hope so either. I have the feeling the more spheres we get, the more strange things happen. I don't want to do something whose consequences I don't even know rudimentarily. I'm afraid…afraid I might do something wrong."

So, what should he say? After all, her fears were not ungrounded in the slightest. So he suggested: "Let's talk to the gullwings tomorrow. I'm sure they'll understand." Then he stopped stroking her hair and said cheerfully: "But now I want you to forget about it and rest!"

Thereover she had to smile. "All right, will do!" She agreed and closed her eyes, the smile still on her face. Because of her tiredness she fell asleep quickly and Tidus lay down as well, watching her.

When Yuna awoke in the middle of the night she saw a strange, yellowish light in the room behind Tidus. So she raised her head and looked over him. Due to its intensity, she had to squint her eyes before she could see that it was another elemental pyrefly. This time it was a ball-lightening – and it floated straight through her hut! All at once she was wide awake and sat up.

"Wake up!" she shook Tidus out of his sleep, keeping the pyrefly in sight.

"Yuna?" he said slumberously "Sorry, I didn't want to fall asle- ?"

"There, behind you!" she said alarmed and pointed towards the thing. Immediately he jumped up and looked there. The thing was just about to leave the hut – passing through the wall which was opposite to the doorway. Yuna jumped up and ran outwards – followed by Tidus. Outside they saw it again, floating around in the little wood behind their hut. However, there wasn't only the elemental pyrefly, but thousands of fireflies as well. So they stopped dead in their tracks and watched the scene. The fireflies as well as the pyrefly floated around quite and peacefully. The silence was only broken by a few chirping crickets and the howling of a faraway owl. The two of them stood there silently, watching the flying lights with mixed feelings.

Then the elemental pyrefly floated around some trees, attracting a few fireflies as if by magic, before it approached Yuna and Tidus. Suddenly a childlike, but not clearly assignable voice sounded from it and said: _"Soon your sweet dream will be gone __forever - and you'll have to face reality again."_

Both of them were shaken by these words. Was that supposed to mean that-?

As both were still kind of paralyzed by the shock, a sudden puff of air went past Yunas ear – carrying the whispered words _'I don't want this dream to be everlasting. I want it to go away!'_

"This can't be true!" Yuna said alarmed as her heart sank into her boots.

„Hey! " Tidus called outraged after the yellow elemental pyrefly. As it was floating away from them he went after it – but then it vanished. It just disappeared into thin air, while the fireflies kept on floating around quiet and peacefully.

„I won't let that happen! " Yuna stated determined with tears in her eyes. Then she headed towards the temple.

"Yuna! What are you up to?" Tidus called after her.

"I've got to talk to the fayth!"

In the meantime Rikku and Paine were near the village's entrance, waiting for Brother and Buddy to come and take over.

"The village sleeps quite and peacefully, and no strange pyrefly at all. I guess it won't appear this night." Rikku said as she yawned boredly.

"Maybe it appears only in the early morning – or you're right and it won't appear at all." Paine answered as they suddenly heard Tidus' call.

"Hey, did you hear that? " Rikku asked Paine concerned. „It sounded like Tidus and it came from the wood. There's something wrong."

"Let's go and see!" Paine replied shortly as she started for the wood. Just before they arrived there, they saw Yuna - followed by Tidus - heading towards the temple.

"Yuni?" Rikku called with a low voice in order to do not wake the whole village. But neither Yuna nor Tidus seemed to have heard it – at least none of them showed any reaction.

"Let's go after them!" Paine decided.

Yuna and Tidus went towards the chamber of the faith and jumped into the hole. They headed into the farplane, where Yuna stopped in the meadow and called for the fayth. But the fayth didn't appear at first. So they ran around and Yuna called again, before the fayth appeared near a waterfall. Yuna stopped in front of the fayth and looked at it.

"Please…" she said softly to the fayth as she fell on her knees, "Please tell me what all these strange pyreflies, spheres and occurrences do mean. I need to know."

First the fayth didn't show any reaction, it just stared at Yuna. Then it shook its head. "I'm sorry, but I fear I can't."

"Huh?" Yuna stared at the fayth in disbelief.

"This is something even we don't know. It's far older than anything else."

"What are you saying?" Tidus said outraged.

"But the strange pyreflies - They said something about _the dream_." Yuna said confused as she looked at the fayth. "They said something about the dream going away."

"So you fear that they meant the dream of the fayth?"

Thereupon Yuna nodded. "Didn't they?"

"I cannot say. All I can say is that the dream of the fayth has gone. When we stopped dreaming, the dream ceased to exist. You know that. But still you fear that he might disappear again." The fayth looked at Tidus, before it turned to Yuna again. "Want to learn something about the dream?" the fayth asked.

Tidus still couldn't believe that the fayth didn't know anything about the strange spheres. So he answered brusquely: "Of course. We wanna know EVERYTHING!"

The fayth chuckled thereupon. "You're an obstinate dream. You're no ordinary dream, not anymore. You remember? In the moment you got touched by Sin, you became more than just a dream. Like your father ten years before you.

When we stopped dreaming, every dream ceased to exist. But not you - and your father as well of course. When we stopped dreaming, you faded – but you kept on existing in some way. That is because part of you has already been more than just a dream. You could say it has become real, so we could not simply erase you. Instead you found yourself being in the farplane - either in the shape of scattered pyreflies or in a more or less human shape. When you took the shape of a human – and that is what you did very often, albeit only briefly – you were able to do active things like wandering around in the farplane, swimming or whistling. When you were scattered into pyreflies, it seemed you could still sense some things around you, for example Yunas presence, and then gather your pyreflies to take the shape of a human."

Then the fayth chuckled again.

"What's there to laugh about?"

"Only a few, very strong-willed beings have been able to gather their pyreflies and take the shape of their living form in the farplane. And you did it again and again. You're just too obstinate to live among the dead. I guess this is one reason why were able to bring you back to Spira."

"What does that mean? Are you saying that he is an unsent?" Yuna asked confused and frightened.

"No, he may still be kind of a dream, but he's no unsent. He's alive, he ages and he can die like every living being. He consists of a soul and a body. His soul is comprised of pyreflies, like the soul of every living being – like an animal's soul, like a human's soul, and like your soul. Well, his body may be different to that of a normal human, but it is also different to the physical form of an unsent. His physical form firms day by day, while the physical form of an unsent or an aeon remains a constant manifestation of pyreflies."

"I don't understand. For when I touch him, he's solid. So how do I have to understand that? Do I have to fear that he disappears again someday even so?"

The fayth shook its head. "When Sin touched him, he became more than a dream. That's the reason why we could bring him back – in addition to your help. As a summoner you've got special abilities. You two have been connected in some way for the last two years. Do you remember hearing Yuna speaking to you sometimes?" the fayth asked Tidus, who nodded.

"We take advantage of that connection. Due to our weakness we wouldn't have been able to bring him back without your help. At the moment it's you who keeps him in the Spira of the Real- until he's become real completely. Indeed, he's got a solid body. But it takes energy to keep it solid, like it took energy to manifest pyreflies into an aeons form. But in contrast to an aeons' physical form, his body itself gets more solid day by day; as a result it takes less energy to keep it in a solid form. It's hard to explain, it's no summoning like it was with the aeons, but it's drawing a bit of your energy. That shouldn't afflict you since as a former summoner you are trained enough to handle that."

Then the fayth paused as it looked around, before it turned to Yuna again. "Yet I ask you: How are you? Do you feel weak sometimes?"

At this Yuna winced and responded: "I guess so. I get tired very quickly in recent days. Why do you ask? "

„So I guess you should know that there's something strange going on. All energy is fading. We don't know what's exactly happening and why, nor can we stop it. All we know is that the energy is fading out of plants, beings, summoners, places. Even we fayth get weaker here in the farplane. Probably the life force is fading out of the whole planet."

"Huh?" Yuna startled.

"The reason why you are bushed is the fading energy. It might be possible that it affects you more than the other former summoners, due to the double burden. The energy is fading out of you as well as out of us. And the weaker we get, the more energy it costs you to keep him with you – and the weaker you get."

"Wait," Tidus called "So you're saying…that Yuna's suffering because she keeps me in Spira? "

"As I've said, it wouldn't afflict her to keep you in Spira if everything was fine. But as long as you haven't become real completely, and as long as the energy is fading, you could answer this with a 'yes'!"

"This can't be happening! What's going on?" Tidus shouted. "How long does it take until I'm 'real'?! And what…what happens when Yuna loses all her energy?" Then he continued in a low voice "I beg you! Please, tell me… - TELL ME!" he yelled.

But the fayth just bowed its head in shame and shook it. "I can't, I'm sorry. I don't know it either." While the fayth was saying this, it started to vanish.

"Hey! Don't you run away! I wanna know!" he run towards the fayth and tried to catch it as he suddenly felt a grip on his wrist, holding him back.

"Don't!" Yuna whispered. All at once Tidus had calmed down and turned around to her. Yuna was still sitting on the ground, looking down and seizing his arm. Then she raised her eyes to him "Don't go." she asked him.

So they stood there, facing each other. Finally Yuna stood up and looked him in the eyes.

"It's ok." She said as a faint smile appeared on her face. „I never want to be without you again. I need you. And if this is the price for it, then I will pay it. I'm tired of stories of only one of us. Please, let this be our story – throughout our lives." Being speechless, he just took her hands and rested his forehead on hers as both closed their eyes. Finally he said: "No more stories of only one of us – never again. I promise!"

"Thank you." She whispered.

As they started for the way back, Yuna looked at the spot the fayth had been standing a few minutes before. "It's not you who sucks the energy out of me, it's something else. And we have to find out what it is; find out what's going on with Spira and what it has to do with the spheres."

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><p>So, now you know my idea of how Tidus could return although the fayth still being gone. The things I have (tried to) explain here have been on my mind since the first chapter that I've written. I guess they were the main reason for me to start writing this story. When I started writing this story, I had the idea of bringing back something to Spira it has lost after Sins death: Some magic and Fantasy (and maybe also some seriousness). And that's what I'm still trying to do.<p>

So I hope I haven't confused you. Much more I hope I could clear up some questions. I guess I just want this story to be a reasonable sequel to FFX-2.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing so far,

Dreamer


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